Emili Ros Rahola, gastroenteròleg

Entrevista a Emili Ros Rahola, gastroenteròleg gironí

Enric Canadell i la química teòrica

Entrevista a Enric Canadell, fisicoquímic gironí

Lluís Oliver i els components fonamentals de la matèria

Entrevista en Lluís Oliver, químic gironí

Plan andaluz de Alzheimer 2007-2010

Publicado en la página web de la Consejería de Igualdad, Salud y Políticas Sociales: www.juntadeandalucia.es/salud (Consejería de Igualdad, Salud y Políticas sociales / Ciudadanía / Quiénes Somos / Planes y Estrategias / Plan Andaluz de Alzheimer)

Asma : proceso asistencial integrado

Este Proceso (2012) integra los dos publicados anteriormente de Asma en la edad pediátrica (2003) y Asma en la edad adulta (2004). Fichero en formato pdf, publicado en la página web de la Consejería de Salud y Bienestar Social: www.juntadeandalucia.es/salud (Consejería de Salud y Bienestar Social / Profesionales / Nuestro Compromiso por la Calidad / Procesos Asistenciales Integrados)

Atención al paciente pluripatológico : proceso asistencial integrado. 2ª ed

Publicado en la página web de la Consejería de Salud: www.juntadeandalucia.es/salud (Consejería de Salud / Profesionales / Nuestro Compromiso por la Calidad / Procesos Asistenciales Integrados)

Circulating estrogens and progesterone during primiparous pregnancies and risk of maternal breast cancer.

Pregnancy reduces maternal risk of breast cancer in the long term, but the biological determinants of the protection are unknown. Animal experiments suggest that estrogens and progesterone could be involved, but direct human evidence is scant. A case-control study (536 cases and 1,049 controls) was nested within the Finnish Maternity Cohort. Eligible were primiparous women who delivered at term a singleton offspring before age 40. For each case, two individually matched controls by age (±6 months) and date of sampling (±3 months) were selected. Estradiol, estrone and progesterone in first-trimester serum were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG) by immunoassay. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated through conditional logistic regression. In the whole study population there was no association of breast cancer with any of the studied hormones. In analyses stratified by age at diagnosis, however, estradiol concentrations were positively associated with risk of breast cancer before age 40 (upper quartile OR, 1.81; CI, 1.08-3.06), but inversely associated with risk in women who were diagnosed ≥age 40 (upper quartile OR, 0.64; CI, 0.40-1.04), p(interaction) 0.004. Risk estimates for estrone mirrored those for estradiol but were less pronounced. Progesterone was not associated with risk of subsequent breast cancer. Our results provide initial evidence that concentrations of estrogens during the early parts of a primiparous pregnancy are associated with maternal risk of breast cancer and suggest that the effect may differ for tumors diagnosed before and after age 40.

DAS-28-based EULAR response and HAQ improvement in rheumatoid arthritis patients switching between TNF antagonists

INTRODUCTION No definitive data are available regarding the value of switching to an alternative TNF antagonist in rheumatoid arthritis patients who fail to respond to the first one. The aim of this study was to evaluate treatment response in a clinical setting based on HAQ improvement and EULAR response criteria in RA patients who were switched to a second or a third TNF antagonist due to failure with the first one. METHODS This was an observational, prospective study of a cohort of 417 RA patients treated with TNF antagonists in three university hospitals in Spain between January 1999 and December 2005. A database was created at the participating centres, with well-defined operational instructions. The main outcome variables were analyzed using parametric or non-parametric tests depending on the level of measurement and distribution of each variable. RESULTS Mean (+/- SD) DAS-28 on starting the first, second and third TNF antagonist was 5.9 (+/- 2.0), 5.1 (+/- 1.5) and 6.1 (+/- 1.1). At the end of follow-up, it decreased to 3.3 (+/- 1.6; Delta = -2.6; p > 0.0001), 4.2 (+/- 1.5; Delta = -1.1; p = 0.0001) and 5.4 (+/- 1.7; Delta = -0.7; p = 0.06). For the first TNF antagonist, DAS-28-based EULAR response level was good in 42% and moderate in 33% of patients. The second TNF antagonist yielded a good response in 20% and no response in 53% of patients, while the third one yielded a good response in 28% and no response in 72%. Mean baseline HAQ on starting the first, second and third TNF antagonist was 1.61, 1.52 and 1.87, respectively. At the end of follow-up, it decreased to 1.12 (Delta = -0.49; p < 0.0001), 1.31 (Delta = -0.21, p = 0.004) and 1.75 (Delta = -0.12; p = 0.1), respectively. Sixty four percent of patients had a clinically important improvement in HAQ (defined as > or = -0.22) with the first TNF antagonist and 46% with the second. CONCLUSION A clinically significant effect size was seen in less than half of RA patients cycling to a second TNF antagonist.

Combinatorial effects of splice variants modulate function of Aiolos

The transcription factor Aiolos (also known as IKZF3), a member of the Ikaros family of zinc-finger proteins, plays an important role in the control of B lymphocyte differentiation and proliferation. Previously, multiple isoforms of Ikaros family members arising from differential splicing have been described and we now report a number of novel isoforms of Aiolos. It has been demonstrated that full-length Ikaros family isoforms localize to heterochromatin and that they can associate with complexes containing histone deacetylase (HDAC). In this study, for the first time we directly investigate the cellular localization of various Aiolos isoforms, their ability to heterodimerize with Ikaros and associate with HDAC-containing complexes, and the effects on histone modification and binding to putative targets. Our work demonstrates that the cellular activities of Aiolos isoforms are dependent on combinations of various functional domains arising from the differential splicing of mRNA transcripts. These data support the general principle that the function of an individual protein is modulated through alternative splicing, and highlight a number of potential implications for Aiolos in normal and aberrant lymphocyte function.

Genetic analysis of caveolin-1 and eNOS genes in colorectal cancer.

Caveolae are involved in physical compartmentalization between different groups of signaling events. Its main component, CAV1, modulates different pathways in cellular physiology. The emerging evidence pointing to the role of CAV1 in cancer led us to study whether different alleles of this gene are associated with colorectal cancer (CRC). Since one of the most characterized enzymes regulated by CAV1 is eNOS, we decided to include both genes in this study. We analyzed five SNPs in 360 unrelated CRC patients and 550 controls from the general population. Two of these SNPs were located within eNOS and three within the CAV1 gene. Although haplotype distribution was not associated with CRC, haplotype TiA (CAV1) was associated with familiar forms of CRC (p<0.05). This was especially evident in CRC antecedents and nuclear forms of CRC. If both CG (eNOS) and TiA (CAV1) haplotypes were taken together, this association increased in significance. Thus, we propose that CAV1, either alone or together with eNOS alleles, might modify CRC heritability.

Additive effects of LPL, APOA5 and APOE variant combinations on triglyceride levels and hypertriglyceridemia: results of the ICARIA genetic sub-study.

BACKGROUND Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) is a well-established independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and the influence of several genetic variants in genes related with triglyceride (TG) metabolism has been described, including LPL, APOA5 and APOE. The combined analysis of these polymorphisms could produce clinically meaningful complementary information. METHODS A subgroup of the ICARIA study comprising 1825 Spanish subjects (80% men, mean age 36 years) was genotyped for the LPL-HindIII (rs320), S447X (rs328), D9N (rs1801177) and N291S (rs268) polymorphisms, the APOA5-S19W (rs3135506) and -1131T/C (rs662799) variants, and the APOE polymorphism (rs429358; rs7412) using PCR and restriction analysis and TaqMan assays. We used regression analyses to examine their combined effects on TG levels (with the log-transformed variable) and the association of variant combinations with TG levels and hypertriglyceridemia (TG > or = 1.69 mmol/L), including the covariates: gender, age, waist circumference, blood glucose, blood pressure, smoking and alcohol consumption. RESULTS We found a significant lowering effect of the LPL-HindIII and S447X polymorphisms (p < 0.0001). In addition, the D9N, N291S, S19W and -1131T/C variants and the APOE-epsilon4 allele were significantly associated with an independent additive TG-raising effect (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.001, p < 0.0001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Grouping individuals according to the presence of TG-lowering or TG-raising polymorphisms showed significant differences in TG levels (p < 0.0001), with the lowest levels exhibited by carriers of two lowering variants (10.2% reduction in TG geometric mean with respect to individuals who were homozygous for the frequent alleles of all the variants), and the highest levels in carriers of raising combinations (25.1% mean TG increase). Thus, carrying two lowering variants was protective against HTG (OR = 0.62; 95% CI, 0.39-0.98; p = 0.042) and having one single raising polymorphism (OR = 1.20; 95% CI, 1.39-2.87; p < 0.001) or more (2 or 3 raising variants; OR = 2.90; 95% CI, 1.56-5.41; p < 0.001) were associated with HTG. CONCLUSION Our results showed a significant independent additive effect on TG levels of the LPL polymorphisms HindIII, S447X, D9N and N291S; the S19W and -1131T/C variants of APOA5, and the epsilon4 allele of APOE in our study population. Moreover, some of the variant combinations studied were significantly associated with the absence or the presence of hypertriglyceridemia.

A new extract of the plant Calendula officinalis produces a dual in vitro effect: cytotoxic anti-tumor activity and lymphocyte activation

BACKGROUND Phytopharmacological studies of different Calendula extracts have shown anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and anti-genotoxic properties of therapeutic interest. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro cytotoxic anti-tumor and immunomodulatory activities and in vivo anti-tumor effect of Laser Activated Calendula Extract (LACE), a novel extract of the plant Calendula Officinalis (Asteraceae). METHODS An aqueous extract of Calendula Officinalis was obtained by a novel extraction method in order to measure its anti-tumor and immunomodulatory activities in vitro. Tumor cell lines derived from leukemias, melanomas, fibrosarcomas and cancers of breast, prostate, cervix, lung, pancreas and colorectal were used and tumor cell proliferation in vitro was measured by BrdU incorporation and viable cell count. Effect of LACE on human peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) proliferation in vitro was also analyzed. Studies of cell cycle and apoptosis were performed in LACE-treated cells. In vivo anti-tumor activity was evaluated in nude mice bearing subcutaneously human Ando-2 melanoma cells. RESULTS The LACE extract showed a potent in vitro inhibition of tumor cell proliferation when tested on a wide variety of human and murine tumor cell lines. The inhibition ranged from 70 to 100%. Mechanisms of inhibition were identified as cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase and Caspase-3-induced apoptosis. Interestingly, the same extract showed an opposite effect when tested on PBLs and NKL cell line, in which in vitro induction of proliferation and activation of these cells was observed. The intraperitoneal injection or oral administration of LACE extract in nude mice inhibits in vivo tumor growth of Ando-2 melanoma cells and prolongs the survival day of the mice. CONCLUSION These results indicate that LACE aqueous extract has two complementary activities in vitro with potential anti-tumor therapeutic effect: cytotoxic tumor cell activity and lymphocyte activation. The LACE extract presented in vivo anti-tumoral activity in nude mice against tumor growth of Ando-2 melanoma cells.

Aprendre a aprendre: una proposta d’intervenció psicopedagògica

Descripció de les pràctiques realitzades en un despatx psicopedagògic especialitzat en dificultats d’aprenentatge dirigit a nens, nenes i adolescents. L'objectiu principal és ajudar als alumnes a ser competents a aprendre a aprendre mitjançant diferents estratègies metodològiques i diversitat de materials, tot centrant-se en aquest cas en una alumna, amb diverses problemàtiques d’aprenentatge, a més d’una baixa autoestima

Serum phospholipid fatty acid profile and dietary intake in an adult Mediterranean population with cystic fibrosis.

The relative importance of the usual diet in serum phospholipids in subjects with cystic fibrosis (CF) has been poorly studied. To compare the fatty acid profile in serum phospholipids from adult CF subjects with that of healthy subjects, and determine the role of the normal diet in this profile, we studied thirty-seven adult CF subjects with stable pulmonary disease and thirty-seven healthy controls matched for age, sex and nutritional status. A dietary questionnaire was obtained, anthropometric data were recorded, and the fatty acid profile measured by GLC. Compared with the controls, the percentages of myristic, palmitoleic and stearic acids and total MUFA were significantly higher in the CF group, and DHA, linoleic acid, total PUFA and n-6 fatty acids were significantly lower in the CF group. The CF subjects with worse pulmonary function and with pancreatic insufficiency had significantly lower levels of linoleic and n-6 fatty acids. The total energy intake was significantly higher in the CF subjects, although the energy distribution in the CF subjects and the controls was not different for the carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. No differences were detected in fat intake for MUFA (51 (SD 4) v. 52 (SD 4) %) or saturated fatty acids (33.5 (SD 5) v. 31.2 (SD 3.8) %), but the PUFA were slightly lower in the CF subjects (15.4 (SD 4.5) v. 17.4 (SD 4.2) %; P=0.02). The usual dietary intake of fatty acids by adult CF subjects does not appear to explain the difference in the fatty acid profile compared with controls. This suggests an abnormal fatty acid metabolism in CF subjects.