Virulence-Related Genes Expression in Planktonic Mixed Cultures of Candida albicans and Non-Albicans Candida Species.

Introduction: Candida albicans is the most common opportunistic pathogen causing fungal infections worldwide, especially in high-risk patients. Its pathogenicity is related to virulence factors gene expression, such as hyphal growth (HWP1), cell adhesion (ALS3), and protease secretion (SAP1) during infection spreading mechanisms. In recent years, an increase in non-albicans Candida infections has been reported, which may present coinfection or competitive interactions with C.

Prevalence and Species Distribution of Clinical Isolates in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Ecuador Tested from January 2019 to February 2020.

The incidence of candidemia in healthcare centers is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Frequency varies significantly among regions, with some species being more prevalent than others in Latin America. In this study, 191 clinical isolates were collected from a major hospital in Ecuador from January 2019 to February 2020 aiming to assess their prevalence and distribution.

Reduced Brain Cortex Angiogenesis in the Offspring of the Preeclampsia-Like Syndrome.

Background: Children from pregnancies affected by preeclampsia have an increased risk of cognitive and behavioral alterations via unknown pathophysiology. We tested the hypothesis that preeclampsia generated reduced brain cortex angiogenesis in the offspring.

Methods: The preeclampsia-like syndrome (PELS) mouse model was generated by administering the nitric oxide inhibitor NG-nitroarginine methyl ester hydrochloride.

Activation of Transposable Elements in Human Skeletal Muscle Fibers upon Statin Treatment.

High cholesterol levels have been linked to a high risk of cardiovascular diseases, and preventative pharmacological care to lower cholesterol levels is critically important. Statins, which are hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, are drugs used to reduce the endogenous cholesterol synthesis, thus minimizing its pathophysiological effects. Despite the proven benefits, statins therapy is known to cause a number of skeletal muscle disorders, including myalgia, myopathy and myositis.

Dysregulated Expression of Transposable Elements in TDP-43 Human Motor Neurons That Recapitulate Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis In Vitro.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease that progressively annihilates spinal cord motor neurons, causing severe motor decline and death. The disease is divided into familial and sporadic ALS. Mutations in the TAR DNA binding protein 43 (TDP-43) have been involved in the pathological emergence and progression of ALS, although the molecular mechanisms eliciting the disease are unknown.

Spatially Resolved Expression of Transposable Elements in Disease and Somatic Tissue with SpatialTE.

Spatial transcriptomics (ST) is transforming the way we can study gene expression and its regulation through position-specific resolution within tissues. However, as in bulk RNA-Seq, transposable elements (TEs) are not being studied due to their highly repetitive nature. In recent years, TEs have been recognized as important regulators of gene expression, and thus, TE expression analysis in a spatially resolved manner could further help to understand their role in gene regulation within tissues.

Differential regulation of transposable elements (TEs) during the murine submandibular gland development.

The submandibular gland (SG) is a relatively simple organ formed by three cell types: acinar, myoepithelial, and an intricate network of duct-forming epithelial cells, that together fulfills several physiological functions from assisting food digestion to acting as an immune barrier against pathogens. Successful SG organogenesis is the product of highly controlled and orchestrated genetic and transcriptional programs. Mounting evidence links Transposable Elements (TEs), originally thought to be selfish genetic elements, to different aspects of gene regulation in mammalian development and disease.

Locus-specific analysis of Transposable Elements during the progression of ALS in the SOD1G93A mouse model.

Transposable Elements (TEs) are ubiquitous genetic elements with the ability to move within a genome. TEs contribute to a large fraction of the repetitive elements of a genome, and because of their nature, they are not routinely analyzed in RNA-Seq gene expression studies. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a lethal neurodegenerative disease, and a well-accepted model for its study is the mouse harboring the human SOD1G93A mutant.

Coarse-Grained Parameters for Divalent Cations within the SIRAH Force Field.

Although molecular dynamics simulations allow for the study of interactions among virtually all biomolecular entities, metal ions still pose significant challenges in achieving an accurate structural and dynamical description of many biological assemblies, particularly to coarse-grained (CG) models. Although the reduced computational cost of CG methods often makes them the technique of choice for the study of large biomolecular systems, the parameterization of metal ions is still very crude or not available for the vast majority of CG force fields. Here, we show that incorporating statistical data retrieved from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) to set specific Lennard-Jones interactions can produce structurally accurate CG molecular dynamics simulations using the SIRAH force field.

The p75 neurotrophin receptor is required to organize the mature neuromuscular synapse by regulating synaptic vesicle availability.

The coordinated movement of organisms relies on efficient nerve-muscle communication at the neuromuscular junction. After peripheral nerve injury or neurodegeneration, motor neurons and Schwann cells increase the expression of the p75 pan-neurotrophin receptor. Even though p75 targeting has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy to delay peripheral neuronal damage progression, the effects of long-term p75 inhibition at the mature neuromuscular junction have not been elucidated.

The median eminence as the hypothalamic area involved in rapid transfer of glucose to the brain: functional and cellular mechanisms.

Our data proposes that glucose is transferred directly to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of the hypothalamic ventricular cavity through a rapid "fast-track-type mechanism" that would efficiently stimulate the glucosensing areas. This mechanism would occur at the level of the median eminence (ME), a periventricular hypothalamic zone with no blood-brain barrier. This "fast-track" mechanism would involve specific glial cells of the ME known as β2 tanycytes that could function as "inverted enterocytes," expressing low-affinity glucose transporters GLUT2 and GLUT6 in order to rapidly transfer glucose to the CSF.

Analysis of the characteristics and components for the frailty syndrome in older adults from central Chile. The PIEI-ES study.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and to characterize frailty in elderly subjects in four urban provincial capitals and two rural communes from Maule Region in Chile.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Participants: 1205 participants aged 65 and older.

Correlated Light-Serial Scanning Electron Microscopy (CoLSSEM) for ultrastructural visualization of single neurons in vivo.

A challenging aspect of neuroscience revolves around mapping the synaptic connections within neural circuits (connectomics) over scales spanning several orders of magnitude (nanometers to meters). Despite significant improvements in serial section electron microscopy (SSEM) technologies, several major roadblocks have impaired its general applicability to mammalian neural circuits. In the present study, we introduce a new approach that circumvents some of these roadblocks by adapting a genetically-encoded ascorbate peroxidase (APEX2) as a fusion protein to a membrane-targeted fluorescent reporter (CAAX-Venus), and introduce it in single pyramidal neurons in vivo using extremely sparse in utero cortical electroporation.

Distinct roles for motor neuron autophagy early and late in the SOD1 mouse model of ALS.

Mutations in autophagy genes can cause familial and sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, the role of autophagy in ALS pathogenesis is poorly understood, in part due to the lack of cell type-specific manipulations of this pathway in animal models. Using a mouse model of ALS expressing mutant superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), we show that motor neurons form large autophagosomes containing ubiquitinated aggregates early in disease progression.

Similar synapse elimination motifs at successive relays in the same efferent pathway during development in mice.

In many parts of the nervous system, signals pass across multiple synaptic relays on their way to a destination, but little is known about how these relays form and the function they serve. To get some insight into this question we ask how the connectivity patterns are organized at two successive synaptic relays in a simple, cholinergic efferent pathway. We found that the organization at successive relays in the parasympathetic nervous system strongly resemble each other despite the different embryological origin and physiological properties of the pre- and postsynaptic cells.

Muscle atrophy is associated with cervical spinal motoneuron loss in BACHD mouse model for Huntington's disease.

Involuntary choreiform movements are clinical hallmark of Huntington's disease, an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by an increased number of CAG trinucleotide repeats in the huntingtin gene. Involuntary movements start with an impairment of facial muscles and then affect trunk and limbs muscles. Huntington's disease symptoms are caused by changes in cortex and striatum neurons induced by mutated huntingtin protein.

A Stem Cell Model of the Motor Circuit Uncouples Motor Neuron Death from Hyperexcitability Induced by SMN Deficiency.

In spinal muscular atrophy, a neurodegenerative disease caused by ubiquitous deficiency in the survival motor neuron (SMN) protein, sensory-motor synaptic dysfunction and increased excitability precede motor neuron (MN) loss. Whether central synaptic dysfunction and MN hyperexcitability are cell-autonomous events or they contribute to MN death is unknown. We addressed these issues using a stem-cell-based model of the motor circuit consisting of MNs and both excitatory and inhibitory interneurons (INs) in which SMN protein levels are selectively depleted.

ALS-associated mutant FUS induces selective motor neuron degeneration through toxic gain of function.

Mutations in FUS cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), including some of the most aggressive, juvenile-onset forms of the disease. FUS loss-of-function and toxic gain-of-function mechanisms have been proposed to explain how mutant FUS leads to motor neuron degeneration, but neither has been firmly established in the pathogenesis of ALS. Here we characterize a series of transgenic FUS mouse lines that manifest progressive, mutant-dependent motor neuron degeneration preceded by early, structural and functional abnormalities at the neuromuscular junction.

Saturated Reconstruction of a Volume of Neocortex.

We describe automated technologies to probe the structure of neural tissue at nanometer resolution and use them to generate a saturated reconstruction of a sub-volume of mouse neocortex in which all cellular objects (axons, dendrites, and glia) and many sub-cellular components (synapses, synaptic vesicles, spines, spine apparati, postsynaptic densities, and mitochondria) are rendered and itemized in a database. We explore these data to study physical properties of brain tissue. For example, by tracing the trajectories of all excitatory axons and noting their juxtapositions, both synaptic and non-synaptic, with every dendritic spine we refute the idea that physical proximity is sufficient to predict synaptic connectivity (the so-called Peters' rule).

Ultrastructurally smooth thick partitioning and volume stitching for large-scale connectomics.

Focused-ion-beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) has become an essential tool for studying neural tissue at resolutions below 10 nm × 10 nm × 10 nm, producing data sets optimized for automatic connectome tracing. We present a technical advance, ultrathick sectioning, which reliably subdivides embedded tissue samples into chunks (20 μm thick) optimally sized and mounted for efficient, parallel FIB-SEM imaging. These chunks are imaged separately and then 'volume stitched' back together, producing a final three-dimensional data set suitable for connectome tracing.

Single-cell identity generated by combinatorial homophilic interactions between α, β, and γ protocadherins.

Individual mammalian neurons stochastically express distinct repertoires of α, β, and γ protocadherin (Pcdh) proteins, which function in neural circuit assembly. We report that all three subfamilies of clustered Pcdhs can engage in specific homophilic interactions, that cell surface delivery of Pcdhα isoforms requires cis interactions with other Pcdhs, and that the extracellular cadherin domain EC6 plays a critical role in this process. Examination of homophilic interactions between specific combinations of multiple Pcdh isoforms revealed that Pcdh combinatorial recognition specificities depend on the identity of all of the expressed isoforms.

SVCT2 transporter expression is post-natally induced in cortical neurons and its function is regulated by its short isoform.

Different studies have demonstrated the importance of micronutrients, such as vitamins, for normal adult brain function and development. Vitamin C is not synthesized in the brain, but high levels are detected in this organ because of the existence of specific uptake mechanisms, which concentrate ascorbic acid from the bloodstream to the cerebrospinal fluid and then into neurons and glial cells. Two different isoforms of sodium-vitamin C cotransporters (SVCT1 and SVCT2) have been cloned.