Prevalencia y coste de glucemias venosas posiblemente innecesarias en atención primaria

The American Diabetes Association issues annually its recommendations for diabetes mellitus screening. Although there is a high proportion of people with undiagnosed diabetes in the general population, it is suspected that many of these screening tests could be needless.An analysis was made of the number of venous blood glucose measurements that did not meet the American Diabetes Association requirements performed in 150 people seen in primary care.On average, an unnecessary venous blood glucose measurement is performed every 15 months. The number is significantly higher in people over 45 years of age, and also in women as compared to men (although with a p value slighty higher than 0.05).     

Dam Methylation Participates in the Regulation of PmrA/PmrB and RcsC/RcsD/RcsB Two Component Regulatory Systems in Salmonella enterica Serovar Enteritidis

The absence of Dam in Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis causes a defect in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) pattern associated to a reduced expression of wzz gene. Wzz is the chain length regulator of the LPS O-antigen. Here we investigated whether Dam regulates wzz gene expression through its two known regulators, PmrA and RcsB. Thus, the expression of rcsB and pmrA was monitored by quantitative real-time RT-PCR and Western blotting using fusions with 3×FLAG tag in wild type (wt) and dam strains of S. Enteritidis. Dam regulated the expression of both rcsB and pmrA genes; nevertheless, the defect in LPS pattern was only related to a diminished expression of RcsB. Interestingly, regulation of wzz in serovar Enteritidis differed from that reported earlier for serovar Typhimurium; RcsB induces wzz expression in both serovars, whereas PmrA induces wzz in S. Typhimurium but represses it in serovar Enteritidis. Moreover, we found that in S. Enteritidis there is an interaction between both wzz regulators: RcsB stimulates the expression of pmrA and PmrA represses the expression of rcsB. Our results would be an example of differential regulation of orthologous genes expression, providing differences in phenotypic traits between closely related bacterial serovars.     

Lkb1 Loss Promotes Tumor Progression of BRAFV600E-Induced Lung Adenomas

Aberrant activation of MAP kinase signaling pathway and loss of tumor suppressor LKB1 have been implicated in lung cancer development and progression. Although oncogenic KRAS mutations are frequent, BRAF mutations (BRAF^V600E) are found in 3% of human non-small cell lung cancers. Contrary to KRAS mutant tumors, BRAF^V600E-induced tumors are benign adenomas that fail to progess. Interestingly, loss of tumor supressor LKB1 coexists with KRAS oncogenic mutations and synergizes in tumor formation and progression, however, its cooperation with BRAF^V600E oncogene is unknown. Our results describe a lung cell population in neonates mice where expression of BRAF^V600E leads to lung adenoma development. Importantly, expression of BRAF^V600E concomitant with the loss of only a single-copy of Lkb1, overcomes senencence–like features of BRAF^V600E-mutant adenomas leading malignization to carcinomas. These results posit LKB1 haploinsufficiency as a risk factor for tumor progression of BRAF^V600E mutated lung adenomas in human cancer patients.     

A new genus and two new species of trypanorhynch cestodes (Tentaculariidae) from the sharks Carcharhinus sorrah (Müller & Henle) and Sphyrna lewini (Griffith & Smith) from off the coasts of Malaysia and Mexico

Two new tentaculariid species were found infecting carcharhiniform sharks from off the coasts of Malaysian Borneo and the southwestern coast of the Baja California Sur, Mexico. Both new species exhibit a homeoacanthous heteromorphous basal and a homeoacanthous homeomorphous metabasal armature. Since this hook arrangement is unique within the tentaculariids and the taxonomy in this group deeply depends on the tentacular armature, Reimeriella n. g. is erected to accommodate R. varioacantha n. sp. ex Carcharhinus sorrah (Müller & Henle) and R. mexicoensis n. sp. ex Sphyrna lewini (Griffith & Smith). Unlike R. mexicoensis n. sp., R. varioacantha n. sp. has a pars bothrialis not overlapping the pars bulbosa and the number of testes is higher. Reimeriella mexicoensis n. sp. possesses very large uncinate to falcate hooks in the basal armature, while in R. varioacantha n. sp. these hooks are almost the same in size as the remaining hooks in both the basal and metabasal armature. The latter species is the first tentaculariid species where the metabasal armature very closely resembles an eutetrarhynchid with a heteroacanthous typical homeomorphous metabasal armature and a high number of spiniform hooks per half spiral row (10–11 vs 6–7 in R. mexicoensis n. sp.) in the metabasal and apical armature. This pattern provides further morphological evidence for the close relationship of the Eutetrarhynchoidea and the Tentacularioidea. Reimeriella varioacantha n. sp. enriches the trypanorhynch fauna from off the coast of Malaysian Borneo while R. mexicoensis n. sp. is a novel record of a tentaculariid trypanorhynch from the Mexican Pacific.

     

Polymorphism and genetic diversity of Isospora parnaitatiaiensis Silva,Rodrigues, Lopes,Berto, Luz,Ferreira & Lopes, 2015 (Eimeriidae) from antbirds (Thamnophilidae) in Brazil

Systematic Parasitology - Isospora parnaitatiaiensis Silva, Rodrigues, Lopes, Berto, Luz, Ferreira & Lopes, 2015 was identified from a new host, the plain antvireo Dysithamnus mentalis...     

A retrospective study of DNA prevalence of porcine parvoviruses in Mexico and its relationship with porcine circovirus associated disease

Worldwide, many emerging porcine parvoviruses (PPVs) have been linked to porcine circovirus-2 (PCV2) associated disease (PCVAD), which includes post-weaning multi-systemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), PCV2-related reproductive failure (PCV2-RF), as well as other syndromes. To determine the DNA prevalence of PPVs and their relationship with PMWS and PCV2-RF in Mexico, 170 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues were selected from archival collections to detect PPVs using a nested polymerase chain reaction. The tissues were composed of 50 PMWS cases, 20 age-matched tissues from healthy pigs, 56 PCV2-related reproductive failure (PCV2⁺-RF) cases, and 44 PCV2^--RF cases. Overall, PPV2 and PPV6 were the most prevalent species (90.0% and 74.7%, respectively). In 8–11 week old pigs, the highest prevalence was for PPV6 and PPV3. Concerning reproductive failure, the PCV2-affected farms had a significantly higher prevalence for PPV6 (61.6%) and PPV5 (36.4%) than the PCV2-unaffected farms (35.0% and 5.0%, respectively). The concurrent infection rate was high, being significant for PPV2/PPV4 and PPV1/PPV5 within the PMWS cases and for PPV6/PPV5 among the PCV2⁺-RF tissues. PPV5 showed a significant relationship with PMWS, whereas PPV5 and PPV6 were significant for PCVAD. The prevalence and coinfection rate of PPVs in Mexico were markedly higher than that described in other countries, denoting that PPV5 and PPV6 might have a potential role in PCVAD in Mexico. It is concluded that it is likely that the density population of pigs in Mexico is contributing to high PPV inter-species and PCV2 coinfections which might lead to a different pathogenic outcome.     

Evolution of larval segment position across 12 Drosophila species*

Many developmental traits that are critical to the survival of the organism are also robust. These robust traits are resistant to phenotypic change in the face of variation. This presents a challenge to evolution. In this article, we asked whether and how a well-established robust trait, Drosophila segment patterning, changed over the evolutionary history of the genus. We compared segment position scaled to body length at the first-instar larval stage among 12 Drosophila species. We found that relative segment position has changed many times across the phylogeny. Changes were frequent, but primarily small in magnitude. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that rates of change in segment position are variable along the Drosophila phylogenetic tree, and that these changes can occur in short evolutionary timescales. Correlation between position shifts of segments decreased as the distance between two segments increased, suggesting local control of segment position. The posterior-most abdominal segment showed the highest magnitude of change on average, had the highest rate of evolution between species, and appeared to be evolving more independently as compared to the rest of the segments. This segment was exceptionally elongated in the cactophilic species in our dataset, raising questions as to whether this change may be adaptive.     

The role of partial incubation and egg repositioning within the clutch in hatching asynchrony and subsequent effects on breeding success

The main mechanism to achieve hatching asynchrony (HA) for incubating birds is to start heating the eggs before clutch completion. This might be achieved through partial incubation and/or early incubation. Even in the absence of incubation behaviour during the laying phase, clutches still experience a certain degree of asynchrony. Recent studies have shown that eggs located in the centre of the nest receive more heat than peripheral ones during incubation. As eggs receiving more heat would develop faster, we hypothesized that HA should be shorter in nests where eggs were moved homogeneously along the centre–periphery space during incubation than in those nests where eggs repeatedly remained in the same locations, either centrally or peripherally. We explored the relative roles of egg repositioning and partial incubation in determining HA in wild birds by (1) removing eggs from 20 Great Tit Parus major nests on the day of laying and replacing them with fake eggs to avoid partial incubation, and returning them when full incubation began; (2) monitoring twice a day the position of each individually marked egg relative to the clutch centre during incubation, and estimating the coefficient of variation of the distances; and (3) determining HA in each nest. Preventing partial incubation reduced HA by 51% days in experimental nests. It also caused negative effects for the incubating females (lengthening the full incubation period) and positive effects for the brood (increasing fledging success). However, our hypothesis about the role of egg repositioning on HA was not supported: all the females moved the eggs with remarkable consistency, generally attaining a coefficient of variation of the distances around 33%, and it was not related to the HA experienced. We therefore conclude that partial incubation is an important factor regulating HA, and females compensate for the potential effects of differential heating by moving the eggs homogeneously within the clutch.     

Assessing the effects of habitat characteristics and co-occurrence with closely related species on occupancy of resident ‘wood-warblers’ in a Neotropical working landscape

The simultaneous effects of habitat traits and interspecific interactions determine the occurrence and habitat use of wildlife populations. However, little research has been devoted to examining spatial co-occurrence among closely related species while considering the effect of habitat variation and imperfect detectability of species in the field. In this study, we focused on migratory and resident 'wood-warblers' that coexist during the winter in a Neotropical working landscape in southern Mexico to understand if habitat occupancy of resident wood-warblers is influenced by habitat characteristics and by the presence of other species of resident and migratory wood-warblers. For this purpose, we implemented two-species occupancy models, which account for the imperfect detectability of these birds in the field. Our results revealed that habitat occupancy of resident wood-warblers was positively influenced by the presence of other closely related species (both migratory and resident). These positive relationships may be explained by the fact that different species of wood-warblers frequently participate in mixed-species flocks. However, these patterns of species co-occurrence were more evident among resident species than between migratory and resident species, which may be explained by micro-habitat segregation and differences in behaviours between resident and migratory wood-warblers. We also found that some habitat characteristics may mediate the observed patterns of species co-occurrence. Specifically, sites with larger trees were associated with the co-occurrence of some species of resident wood-warblers. In addition, we discuss the possibility that species co-occurrence might be the result of shared preferences for environmental factors that we did not consider. Our study highlights the importance of the interplay between species co-occurrence and habitat traits in determining the presence and habitat use of resident birds in Neotropical working landscapes.