Mass irradiation of adult Aedes mosquitoes using a coolable 3D printed canister

In the last decade, the use of the sterile insect technique (SIT) to suppress mosquito vectors have rapidly expanded in many countries facing the complexities of scaling up production and procedures to sustain large-scale operational programs. While many solutions have been proposed to improve mass production, sex separation and field release procedures, relatively little attention has been devoted to effective mass sterilization of mosquitoes. Since irradiation of pupae en masse has proven difficult to standardise with several variables affecting dose response uniformity, the manipulation of adult mosquitoes appears to be the most promising method to achieve effective and reliable sterilization of large quantities of mosquitoes. A 3D-printed phase change material based coolable canister was developed which can compact, immobilize and hold around 100,000 adult mosquitoes during mass radio sterilization procedures. The mass irradiation and compaction treatments affected the survival and the flight ability of Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti adult males but the use of the proposed irradiation canister under chilled conditions (6.7-11.3 °C) significantly improved their quality and performance. The use of this cooled canister will facilitate adult mass irradiation procedures in self-contained irradiators in operational mosquito SIT programmes.

Five Years of Multidisciplinary Care in Hereditary Cancer: Our Experience in a Spanish University Hospital

OBJECTIVE

To analyse the evolution of a multidisciplinary heredofamilial cancer unit (HFCU) in a university hospital.

METHODS

This was a retrospective analysis of the activity of our HFCU in its first 5 years of existence.

RESULTS

Between July 2010 and July 2015, 1,518 patients from 1,318 families attended our HFCU. Genetic testing was offered to 862 patients. Of those, 833 (96.6%) accepted testing, with available results for 636 (76.4%). Pathogenic mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 were found in 175 patients. Lynch syndrome and adenomatous polyposis were the most frequent syndromes diagnosed (151/175, 86.3%) among 17 different syndromes studied. Of the 404 patients without a previous genetic diagnosis in the family, 62 (15.3%) were found to have mutations in disease-causing genes. Prophylactic surgery and follow-up (33.7%) or follow-up only (66.3%) was proposed for mutation carriers according to international guidelines and patients' preferences.

CONCLUSION

We have a high mutation detection rate, genetic test acceptance, and compliance with risk reduction strategies. However, there is room for improvement, especially in genetic testing timing, considering that an increase in the indications for genetic testing is expected.

Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial of Terazosin Effect on Blood Pressure and Urinary Output of Dopamine in Hypertensive Patients

In a parallel, double-blind study, 12 untreated hypertensive patients received terazosin (2-4 mg/day for 4 weeks), and 12 received placebo during the same period. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly in the terazosin group, from 150 +/- 5.0 mmHg systolic and 99.6 +/- 2.0 diastolic before treatment, to 134.0 +/- 7.0 systolic and 85.6 +/- 3.0 mmHg diastolic at week 4 of treatment. No significant blood pressure changes occurred in the placebo group. Blood pressure decrease showed a positive correlation (r = .62 and r = .52 for systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respectively) with the patient's age (P less than .05). Total plasma cholesterol decreased 18% in the terazosin group (P less than .05) and 9% in the placebo group (P greater than .05). Urinary dopamine excretion decreased significantly from 692.8 +/- 180.0 to 330.5 +/- 52.0 micrograms/24 hours in the terazosin group (P less than .05) and showed a nonsignificant increase in the placebo group. Compared with 22 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers, urinary dopamine excretion in the hypertensive group before treatment was not statistically different (779.3 +/- 83.1 micrograms/24 hours). Dopamine excretion was higher in untreated hypertensive men and in male healthy volunteers compared with women. The decrease of urinary dopamine excretion observed under terazosin treatment could be due to a decrease of kidney dopamine synthesis or release induced by blood pressure reduction, or secondarily to the blockade of kidney alpha 1-receptors, modulating dopamine excretion. No significant changes were observed in urinary excretion of noradrenaline and adrenaline.

Central adiposity in children born small and large for gestational age

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate body composition differences between children that were born small (SGA) or large for gestational age (LGA) compared with their counterparts born adequate for gestational age (AGA).

METHODS

Body composition was assessed in 124 healthy Caucasian children (50% girls) aged 6-10, classified according to their birth weight for gestational age as AGA, SGA and LGA. Fat mass (FM), percentage of FM, lean mass (LM), bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in the whole body and at different body regions.

RESULTS

LM (adjusted for age and sex) and total BMC (adjusted for age, sex and weight) were both significantly higher in LGA children and lower in SGA when compared with those born AGA. After adjustments for height, LM and BMC differences between groups were not significant. In SGA children, truncal (P<0.05) and abdominal fatness (P<0.01) were higher when compared with both AGA and LGA children, after adjustments for age, sex and height. There were no differences in the percentage of total and central FM between children born LGA and AGA.

CONCLUSIONS

During childhood, children born SGA had higher central adiposity regardless of their body size. Children born LGA seem to have a higher body size but with harmonic body composition and adequate body fat distribution. Small size for gestational age at birth could programme excess abdominal fat deposition in children, which is a major factor for the clustering of cardiovascular disease risk factors defining the metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic risk-factor clustering estimation in obese children

The purpose of this study was to apply the new approach for Metabolic Individual Risk-factor And Clustering Estimation (MIRACLE) score in a group of Spanish obese children and adolescents and to describe its relationship with other metabolic risk factors. 153 children with simple obesity were studied: 79 males and 74 females, mean age 11.2 +/- 2.2. Obesity was defined when BMI was higher than the age and sex specific equivalent to 30 kg/m2 in adults. MIRACLE score included: family history (early cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension), individual history (small for gestational age and ethnic origin), clinical features (BMI, waist circumference > 90th percentile and blood pressure > 95th percentile) and metabolic abnormalities (glucose intolerance or type 2 diabetes). It was assigned a value of 1 to "presence" and 0 to" absence" in every patient. The children were considered as having metabolic risk when at least 5 items were present. Triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein A1, glucose and HOMA index, were measured too. The most frequent clinical features of MIRACLE score were: excess waist circumference (95.4%) and hypertension (41.8%). Family history criteria were frequent (55.3% for type 2 diabetes, 39.1% for hypertension and 31.3% for early cardiovascular disease). Individual risk factors were not frequent. Glucose intolerance was detected in 22.2% of the obese patients. A MIRACLE score > or = 5 was found in 37.4% of the children studied, being associated with a significant risk of dyslipidemia (triglycerides, p = 0.040; HDL-cholesterol, p = 0.006; LDL-cholesterol p = 0.038; apolipoprotein B, p = 0.008) only in females. In conclusion, the MIRACLE score is useful in order to detect metabolic risk in obese children but it seems necessary to improve the score, by including other features of the metabolic syndrome like lipid profile or indirect indicators of insulin resistance.

Zinc supplementation in infants with asymmetric intra uterine growth retardation; effect on growth, nutritional status and leptin secretion

OBJECTIVES

To analyse the effect of zinc supplementation in growth and nutritional status of a homogeneous group of newborns with intra uterine growth retardation and asymmetric growth. The effect of changes of zinc status on growth and leptin serum concentrations was also analysed.

POPULATION AND METHODS

A double blind, randomised clinical trial was designed in order to detect differences in growth between zinc and placebo groups during the first 6 months of life. 31 infants were included either to the zinc group (n = 14) (38.8+/-1.4 weeks GA, 2,171+/-253 g body weight) or the placebo group (n = 17) (38.9+/-1.1 weeks GA, 2,249+/-220 g body weight). The zinc group received a supplement of 3 mg elemental zinc per day (as zinc sulphate).

RESULTS

There were not significant differences between groups for anthropometric measurements through the study period. We found a significant effect of the study group, in hair zinc concentrations, but not in serum zinc concentrations; post-hoc comparisons for hair zinc revealed that there were significant differences between groups at 1, 2, and 6 months of age. Changes in serum and hair zinc concentrations from baseline to 6 months, showed significant correlations with changes in weight/age and length/age z-scores, in the supplement group. Changes in leptin serum concentrations during follow-up, showed significant correlations with changes in sum of 4 skinfolds and weight/age z-score, in the placebo group. Changes in hair zinc concentration through the study period showed significant correlations with changes in leptin serum concentrations from baseline to 6 months of follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

In a homogeneous group of intra uterine growth retardation infants with asymmetric growth, 3 mg/day zinc supplementation do not show significant improvements in weight and length growth. Changes in zinc status were related with changes in weight and length during the first 6 months of life. Changes in leptin serum concentrations were related with changes in the anthropometric indices of body fat accretion.

Diversity of metabolic syndrome risk factors in obese children and adolescents

The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of metabolic syndrome (MS) variables in a group of spanish obese children and adolescents, to asses MS prevalence in this population and to describe it's relationship with other metabolic risk factors. 103 children were studied : 54 male and 49 female, mean age 10.08+/-2.3 with exogenous obesity. Obesity was defined when BMI was higher than the age and sex specific equivalent to 30 kg/m(2) in adults. MS variables considered were waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting blood triglycerides, fasting glucose/insulin and HDL-cholesterol. The children were considered as having the MS when three or more characteristics showed abnormal values according to Cook and De Ferranti definitions. HOMA index, ApoB and ApoA1 were studied too. The most frequent features of the metabolic syndrome were excess waist circumference and hypertension. The MS markers with the lowest frequency were dyslipidemia and fasting hyperglicemia. MS prevalence was 29,9% (Cook et al. criteria) and 50% (De Ferranti et al. criteria). Fasting insulin and HOMA index values increased significantly (p < 0.05) when three or more abnormalities of the MS variables were present. Apo B increased significantly only in females (p < 0.05) and Apo Al decreased significantly (p < 0.05) in both sexes when MS was present. Adequate metabolic syndrome risk factors criteria, mainly cut-off values, need to be defined in the European paediatric population.

The brain decade in debate: I. Neurobiology of learning and memory

This article is a transcription of an electronic symposium in which some active researchers were invited by the Brazilian Society for Neuroscience and Behavior (SBNeC) to discuss the last decade's advances in neurobiology of learning and memory. The way different parts of the brain are recruited during the storage of different kinds of memory (e.g., short-term vs long-term memory, declarative vs procedural memory) and even the property of these divisions were discussed. It was pointed out that the brain does not really store memories, but stores traces of information that are later used to create memories, not always expressing a completely veridical picture of the past experienced reality. To perform this process different parts of the brain act as important nodes of the neural network that encode, store and retrieve the information that will be used to create memories. Some of the brain regions are recognizably active during the activation of short-term working memory (e.g., prefrontal cortex), or the storage of information retrieved as long-term explicit memories (e.g., hippocampus and related cortical areas) or the modulation of the storage of memories related to emotional events (e.g., amygdala). This does not mean that there is a separate neural structure completely supporting the storage of each kind of memory but means that these memories critically depend on the functioning of these neural structures. The current view is that there is no sense in talking about hippocampus-based or amygdala-based memory since this implies that there is a one-to-one correspondence. The present question to be solved is how systems interact in memory. The pertinence of attributing a critical role to cellular processes like synaptic tagging and protein kinase A activation to explain the memory storage processes at the cellular level was also discussed.

Cardiac excitation-contraction coupling in the portal hypertensive rat

Basal contractility and responses to beta-adrenoceptor activation are compromised in hearts from rats with chronic portal vein stenosis. Here we report the effect of partial ligation of the portal vein on myocardial G protein expression, beta-adrenoceptor-G protein coupling, and excitation-contraction coupling (ECC). Contractility (dT/dt) was reduced 30-50% in right and left ventricles, but the rate of relaxation (-dT/dt) was unaffected. Isoproterenol-induced positive inotropism was diminished, but there was no difference in ED(50). The concentration-dependent increase in -dT/dt was unaffected. G(s)alpha and G(i)alpha expression, cholera toxin- and pertussis toxin-induced ADP-ribosylation, and formation of the agonist-receptor-G(s) complex were unaffected by portal vein stenosis. Of the components of ECC examined, the caffeine-sensitive sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) pool was reduced 35%, although the Ca(2+) uptake and release processes were unchanged; the apparent density of L-type Ca(2+) channels decreased 60% with no change in affinity; the dihydropyridine Ca(2+) channel agonist BAY K 8644 produced relative changes in dT/dt that were similar in both groups, suggesting normal function in the remaining Ca(2+) channels; and Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchange was reduced 50% in the portal vein stenosis group. These data suggest that the effect of portal vein stenosis on the myocardium is the result of alterations to ECC.

Severe malformations in males from families with osteopathia striata with cranial sclerosis

Osteopathia striata with cranial sclerosis (OS-CS) is a bone dysplasia characterized by longitudinal striations of the long bones and sclerosis of the craniofacial bones. Affected patients show macrocephaly, ocular hypertelorism, frontal bossing, broad nasal bridge and abnormalities of the palate. Anomalies such as hearing loss, congenital heart defect, vertebral anomalies and mental impairment have also been reported. Pedigree analysis has suggested an autosomal dominant inheritance, but a recent report of a family with significantly more affected males than females suggested the possibility of X-linked inheritance. Here we describe a new family with OS-CS (the twelfth in the literature) with four affected individuals (two males and two females) spanning three generations. The affected male in the third generation was stillborn with multiple congenital anomalies, whereas the other three affected individuals had mild features. This family may represent another example of X-linked OS-CS where the mutated gene(s) is more severe in males.

Pharmacologic therapy of angina pectoris

The primary drugs utilized in the treatment of angina pectoris include organic nitrates, beta-adrenoceptor antagonists, Ca2+ antagonists, and the antithrombotic agents aspirin and heparin. Not all of these drugs are useful in every form of angina, and treatment is symptomatic rather than curative. In stable effort angina, beta-blockers, Ca2+ antagonists, and organic nitrates provide relief from angina pain and improve exercise tolerance primarily through their ability to decrease oxygen demand. The antiplatelet action of aspirin may decrease the incidence of myocardial infarction in these patients. Ca2+ channel blockers and organic nitrates are the drugs of choice for variant angina. These vasodilators restore blood flow by relieving the coronary vasospasm that triggers the ischemic episode. In unstable angina, aspirin and heparin reduce the risk of myocardial infarction, and aspirin increases survival. Heparin and nitrates alleviate angina pain, and under some circumstances beta-blockers and Ca2+ antagonists have a role in the relief of pain.