Isoenzyme profiles of Trypanosoma cruzi stocks from different areas of Paraguay

Twenty one Trypanosoma cruzi stocks from humans, domiciliary triatomines and one sylvatic animal of different areas of Paraguay were subjected to isoenzyme analysis. Thirteen enzyme systems (15 loci in total) were studied. MN cl2 (clonets 39) and SO34 cl4 (clonets 20) were used as references. Relationships between stocks were depicted by an UPGMA dendrogram constructed using the Jaccard´s distances matrix. Among the Paraguayan stocks 14 zymodemes were identified (Par1 to Par14), Par 5 being the most frequent. Polymorphism rate and clonal diversity were 0.73 and 0.93, respectively. Average number of alleles per polymorphic locus was 2.5 (range 2-4). These measurements show a high diversity, which is confirmed by the dendrogram topology. All stocks belong to the same lineage, as MN cl2 reference strain (T. cruzi II). Moreover three distinct subgroups were identified and two of them correspond to Brazilian and Bolivian zymodemes, respectively. The third subgroup, the most common in Paraguay, is related to Tulahuen stock. The large geographical distribution of some zymodemes agrees with the hypothesis of clonality for T. cruzi populations. However sample size was not adequate to detect genetic recombination in any single locality.

Fills adolescents de famílies amb dinàmiques violentes: Afectació i repercussions. Una perspectiva des del SATAF

S’estableix una comparativa entre adolescents provinents de famílies amb dinàmiques de violència i adolescents immersos en dinàmiques no-violentes, emprant el MACI i una graella construïda segons criteri tècnic. Malgrat el petit tamany mostral s’obtenen dades d’interès clínic referides als adolescents VIDO.

Characterization of the murine high Km glucose transporter GLUT2 gene and its transcriptional regulation by glucose in a differentiated insulin-secreting cell line.

In pancreatic beta-cells, the high Km glucose transporter GLUT2 catalyzes the first step in glucose-induced insulin secretion by glucose uptake. Expression of the transporter has been reported to be modulated by glucose either at the protein or mRNA levels. In this study we used the differentiated insulinoma cell line INS-1 which expresses high levels of GLUT2 and show that the expression of GLUT2 is regulated by glucose at the transcriptional level. By run-on transcription assays we showed that glucose induced GLUT2 gene transcription 3-4-fold in INS-1 cells which was paralleled by a 1.7-2.3-fold increase in cytoplasmic GLUT2 mRNA levels. To determine whether glucose regulatory sequences were present in the promoter region of GLUT2, we cloned and characterized a 1.4-kilobase region of mouse genomic DNA located 5' of the translation initiation site. By RNase protection assays and primer extension, we determined that multiple transcription initiation sites were present at positions -55, -64, and -115 from the first coding ATG and which were identified in liver, intestine, kidney, and beta-cells mRNAs. Plasmids were constructed with the mouse promoter region linked to the reporter gene chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT), and transiently and stably transfected in the INS-1 cells. Glucose induced a concentration-dependent increase in CAT activity which reached a maximum of 3.6-fold at 20 mM glucose. Similar CAT constructs made of the human GLUT2 promoter region and the CAT gene displayed the same glucose-dependent increase in transcriptional activity when transfected into INS-1 cells. Comparison of the mouse and human promoter regions revealed sequence identity restricted to a few stretches of sequences which suggests that the glucose responsive element(s) may be conserved in these common sequences.

Criminología positivista y anarqusimo en la España de entresiglos (XIX-XX): un debate sobre la naturaleza, la ciencia y el progreso

El estudio hasta el momento de la relación entre positivismo criminológico e ideario anarquista de entre siglos (XIX-XX), ha evidenciado la trascendencia del estudio de aquellos dos pensamiento en esa etapa histórica. El desarrollo de la Criminología como ciencia, así como del verdadero núcleo teórico y práctico del anarquismo español, se encuentra en aquel momento histórico de cambio de siglo. La construcción del tipo criminal anarquista, la política criminal desarrollada al efecto, así como las críticas, propuesta y posturas acerca de la cuestión criminal por parte de los anarquistas, revelan un auge discursivo y científico de ambas partes que estaban discutiendo sobre temas verdaderamente de fondo: aquellos sobre la naturaleza, el progreso y la forma de sociedad y Estado. Más allá de las disputas con aquellos autores de la Scuola Italiana, los anarquistas españoles, avivaron un interés decisivo en otro tipo de teorías como el darwinismo o el neomalthusianismo. Más allá del vehemente rechazo a la cárcel y al sistema estatal y capitalista en su conjunto, el desarrollo y utilización en propio sentido de la Ciencia, se fundamentó como herramienta política básica para el pensamiento anarquista. Por su parte, esa misma Ciencia positiva, era el comodín “objetivo” que se usaba de herramienta para una criminalización y persecución política de numerosas disidencias. Desentrañar, por un lado, cómo se articuló cada uno de esos discursos y qué implicaciones y relaciones tuvo, y por otro, qué herencia pervive de aquellas construcciones en nuestro sistema penal y político, son los puntos centrales de esta Tesis.

La construcción social de las emociones en las sociedades occidentales: el amor materno en la Catalunya del siglo XXI

El objetivo principal de esta investigación es analizar la forma cómo se construye socialmente el amor materno en el marco de las sociedades occidentales, y para ello partiremos del estudio del caso de las maternidades en la Catalunya actual. El amor materno, como emoción, aparece como una codificación cultural que responde a la canalización de la vida que cada cultura establece. En las sociedades occidentales el amor materno se revela como uno de los ejes vertebradores y legitimadores de la esfera reproductiva y del papel de la mujer dentro de ésta, definiéndose en consonancia y dando coherencia al resto de aspectos del sistema social. Dada su importancia los discursos hegemónicos de la sociedad que lo define tienden a naturalizar esta emoción en favor del mantenimiento y el no cuestionamiento del orden social dado, a pesar de que abundante evidencia empírica en ciencias sociales demuestra que se trata de una construcción social que responde a las necesidades del sistema social en cuestión. Actualmente los discursos tradicionales que contenían y definían la concepción de amor materno en Occidente se han ampliado y diversificado debido a cambios sociales como el ingreso de la mujer en la esfera pública; el logro de igualdad jurídica entre géneros; cambios en los modelos familiares; nuevas situaciones en torno a la infancia y la juventud; la intensificación de los flujos migratorios; la creciente urbanización; la expansión de los servicios públicos (escuela y salud); el alargamiento de la esperanza de vida, los métodos anticonceptivos modernos..., de manera tal que muchos de ellos entran en contraposición con las definiciones tradicionales. Es decir, nuevos y viejos discursos alrededor de la maternidad se encuentran enfrentados en su redefinición a otros que lo cuestionan, y a prácticas y cambios en ciertas instituciones que llevan en otra dirección la construcción de esta emoción. Esta nueva situación, aún en fase de conformación, reclama una explicación que pasa por conocer las causas, las formas y la definición del amor materno, en nuestro actual contexto.

A Rural Community in a Brazilian Western Amazonian Region: Some Demographic and Epidemiological Patterns

Some demographic and epidemiological patterns of the rural population of Monte Negro, locality situated in the State of Rondônia (Brazil), Western Amazonia, are described based on a sample of 924 randomly selected individuals, approximately 10% of the whole population. The main features of this sample are (1) the illiteracy rates in the parental generation were 23% for fathers and 20% for mothers. Among children, this figure dropped to 6%; (2) housing in Monte Negro is characterized by being constructed with wood (92%), and also a floor (75%). Nevertheless, only 32% of these houses had electric energy; (3) the mean ages for the parental generation were 41.9 for males and 36.3 for females. These values for the offspring generation were 12.2 and 10.5, respectively; (4) the sex-ratio of the offspring generation was 1.32;(5) the bioassay of kinship was estimated as .033 for this long range migrant population; (6) the prevalence of some macrophage dependent infectious disease was conspicuously high; (7) the reported number of malarial episodes among males and females was statistically different, suggesting that malaria may be, in part, a "professional" disease; (8) the prevalence of serum-positive reactions against B-hepatitis is distressing. It has a strong age dependence and reaches 74% among adult males. Conversely, signs of active infection (AgHbs) rises to 16% among children.

Supervisió i control de la lectura: anàlisi de procediments, judicis metacognitius i resultats de comprensió en estudiants d'Educació Secundària Obligatòria

Els processos de comprensió lectora són complexes, i requereixen de l’ús autorregulat, conscient i deliberat de la metacognició en les seves dues vessants: supervisió i control. L’objectiu d’aquest projecte és analitzar les relacions entre aquests dos components, i la seva repercussió en la comprensió lectora que finalment s’assoleix. Per tal de tractar aquesta qüestió s’han analitzat els processos de lectura seguits per 60 alumnes d’Educació Secundària Obligatòria. La presència i el tipus de relectura ha estat considerada com a mesura de control (estratègia emprada per millorar la pròpia comprensió), mentre que els judicis metacognitius són considerats com a mesura de supervisió. També es va elaborar una prova de comprensió lectora incloent preguntes que requerissin diferents nivells de processament cognitiu, de més superficial a més profund. Els nostres resultats preliminars mostren una relació entre l’ajust dels judicis metacognitius i la comprensió lectora assolida; els lectors que millor entenen el text tendeixen a ser els que millor supervisen la seva comprensió. La relectura també s’ha mostrat útil per millorar la comprensió, ja que els participants obtenen millors resultats després de rellegir. Per últim, s’ha trobat una relació significativa entre l’ajust dels judicis metacognitius i la relectura. D’una banda, aquests resultats subratllen la importància de la supervisió i el control en la comprensió lectora, i ofereixen evidències per explicar les complexes relacions entre supervisió, control, i resultats de comprensió. A més, els processos de lectura i els objectius amb què hom rellegeix apareixen com a temes rellevants que requereixen ser investigats per comprendre millor la interacció entre els processos de supervisió i control en la comprensió lectora. D’altra banda, els resultats tenen valuoses implicacions educatives, ja que proporcionen evidències de la importància d’ensenyar processos metacognitius des d’un punt de vista estratègic, en contraposició a les “tècniques”, per tal de millorar la comprensió lectora.

Cloning and Molecular Characterization of the Schistosoma mansoni Genes RbAp48 and Histone H4

The human nuclear protein RbAp48 is a member of the tryptophan/aspartate (WD) repeat family, which binds to the retinoblastoma (Rb) protein. It also corresponds to the smallest subunit of the chromatin assembly factor and is able to bind to the helix 1 of histone H4, taking it to the DNA in replication. A cDNA homologous to the human gene RbAp48 was isolated from a Schistosoma mansoni adult worm library and named SmRbAp48. The full length sequence of SmRbAp48 cDNA is 1036 bp long, encoding a protein of 308 amino acids. The transcript of SmRbAp48 was detected in egg, cercariae and schistosomulum stages. The protein shows 84% similarity with the human RbAp48, possessing four WD repeats on its C-terminus. A hypothetical tridimensional structure for the SmRbAp48 C-terminal domain was constructed by computational molecular modeling using the b-subunit of the G protein as a model. To further verify a possible interaction between SmRbAp48 and S. mansoni histone H4, the histone H4 gene was amplified from adult worm genomic DNA using degenerated primers. The gene fragment of SmH4 is 294 bp long, encoding a protein of 98 amino acids which is 100% identical to histone H4 from Drosophila melanogaster.

Mortality in immatures of the floodwater mosquito Ochlerotatus albifasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) and effects of parasitism by Strelkovimermis spiculatus (Nematoda: Mermithidae) in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

Life tables were constructed for six cohorts of immature stages of the floodwater mosquito Ochlerotatus albifasciatus (Macquart) in a park in Buenos Aires, highlighting the mortality attributable to the parasitic nematode, Strelkovimermis spiculatus Poinar & Camino. Two cohorts were selected to compare parasite incidence in all mosquito stages when low and high parasitism occurred. Development time of Oc. albifasciatus from first instar to adult was 7.7-10 days in the spring, 6 days in the summer, and 10.9-21.9 days in the fall. Survival was estimated as 0-1.4% in the spring, 2% in the summer and 0.2-4.4% in the fall. The highest "K" value (Killing power) occurred during a fall cohort when prevalence of the parasite was 86.9%, and the lowest in a spring cohort. Parasitism occurred during all seasons, but S. spiculatus persisted to adult only in the summer and fall, when adult mosquitoes developed from parasitized third and fourth instars larvae. The abundance of S. spiculatus differed between old and young larvae only when parasite prevalence was the highest. Although pupae and adults of Oc. albifasciatus were parasitized, no pupal mortality attributable to parasitism was recorded. The proportion of parasitized adults ranged from 14.2% and 5.7% in the two cohorts compared. Pupal wet weight and adult wing lengths did not differ between parasitized and unparasitized individuals.

Malpighian tubule polytene chromosomes of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera, Culicinae)

Dipteran polytene chromosomes provide an excellent model for understanding in species complexes, as well as for structural and functional cytogenetics. The status of species in the Culex pipiens complex is controversial and the use of polytene chromosomes for cytogenetic analysis in the subfamily Culicinae has been difficult because of methodological problems. In this study, Malpighian tubule polytene chromosomes were obtained from young (0 to 12 h, 20ºC) and old (20 to 42 h, 28ºC) laboratory-bred C. pipiens quinquefasciatus pupae. The chromosome maps for this species were constructed and compared with published data for C. pipiens pipiens and C. p. quinquefasciatus. Although the banding patterns were conserved between subspecies, analysis of the structural variations in the bands and interbands revealed differences apparently related to the physiological stage and ecogeographical strain. The organization of the centromeric regions in larval and pupal chromosomes showed greater similarity to each other than did those of pupal and adult chromosomes. The use of pupal polytene chromosomes for in situ hybridization with vector competence probes is discussed.

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction construction of plasmid-based, full-length cDNA libraries from Leishmania infantum for in vitro expression screening

We describe a streamlined reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction methodology for constructing full-length cDNA libraries of trypanosomatids on the basis of conserved sequences located at the 5' and 3'ends of trans-spliced mRNAs. The amplified cDNA corresponded to full-length messengers and was amenable to in vitro expression. Fractionated libraries could be rapidly constructed in a plasmid vector by the TA cloning method (Invitrogen). We believe this is useful when there are concerns over the use of restriction enzymes and phage technology as well as in cases where expression of proteins in their native conformation is desired.

Aplicació especialitza en la cerca de feines que es puguin realitzar des de casa

El projecte consisteix en la creació d'una aplicació WEB construïda sota arquitectura J2EE, aquesta aplicació consistirà en mostrar ofertes laborals definides per empresa, categories, hores de treball i condicions contractuals amb un objectiu molt clar, el que totes les ofertes presentades és puguin realitzar des de casa.

Selecting control genes for RT-QPCR using public microarray data.

Background: Gene expression analysis has emerged as a major biological research area, with real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-QPCR) being one of the most accurate and widely used techniques for expression profiling of selected genes. In order to obtain results that are comparable across assays, a stable normalization strategy is required. In general, the normalization of PCR measurements between different samples uses one to several control genes (e. g. housekeeping genes), from which a baseline reference level is constructed. Thus, the choice of the control genes is of utmost importance, yet there is not a generally accepted standard technique for screening a large number of candidates and identifying the best ones. Results: We propose a novel approach for scoring and ranking candidate genes for their suitability as control genes. Our approach relies on publicly available microarray data and allows the combination of multiple data sets originating from different platforms and/or representing different pathologies. The use of microarray data allows the screening of tens of thousands of genes, producing very comprehensive lists of candidates. We also provide two lists of candidate control genes: one which is breast cancer-specific and one with more general applicability. Two genes from the breast cancer list which had not been previously used as control genes are identified and validated by RT-QPCR. Open source R functions are available at http://www.isrec.isb-sib.ch/similar to vpopovic/research/ Conclusion: We proposed a new method for identifying candidate control genes for RT-QPCR which was able to rank thousands of genes according to some predefined suitability criteria and we applied it to the case of breast cancer. We also empirically showed that translating the results from microarray to PCR platform was achievable.

Life tables and reproductive parameters of Lutzomyia spinicrassa (Diptera: Psychodidae) under laboratory conditions

Lutzomyia spinicrassa is a vector of Leishmania braziliensis in Colombia. This sand fly has a broad geographical distribution in Colombia and Venezuela and it is found mainly in coffee plantations. Baseline biological growth data of L. spinicrassa were obtained under experimental laboratory conditions. The development time from egg to adult ranged from 59 to 121 days, with 12.74 weeks in average. Based on cohorts of 100 females, horizontal life table was constructed. The following predictive parameters were obtained: net rate of reproduction (8.4 females per cohort female), generation time (12.74 weeks), intrinsic rate of population increase (0.17), and finite rate of population increment (1.18). The reproductive value for each class age of the cohort females was calculated. Vertical life tables were elaborated and mortality was described for the generation obtained of the field cohort. In addition, for two successive generations, additive variance and heritability for fecundity were estimated.

Construcción de un SIG para la Gestión de Rutas en Caminos no Cartografiados

En aquest projecte es construeix un Sistema d'Informació Geogràfica (SIG) que permet ampliar la cartografia estàndard del territori català amb les rutes que han seguit, per camins no cartografiats, els vehicles d'una empresa veterinària.