Governance of advanced materials: Shaping a safe and sustainable future.

The past few decades of managing the uncertain risks associated with nanomaterials have provided valuable insights (knowledge gaps, tools, methods, etc.) that are equally important to promote safe and sustainable development and use of advanced materials. Based on these insights, the current paper proposes several actions to optimize the risk and sustainability governance of advanced materials.

Legal recognition of LGB-parent families and science. An interview with Mar González.

Mar González is a psychologist and one of the pioneers in studies on LGB-parent families in Spain. Her research work from the 2000s onwards played an essential role in the parliamentary debate in the country, which culminated in the approval of same-sex marriage in 2005. Spain, a Catholic-majority country that had left the Franco dictatorship three decades earlier, was the third country in the world, after Belgium and Netherlands, to recognize the right of gay and lesbian people to unite.

Vibrio pathogenicity island and phage CTX genes in Vibrio alginolyticus isolated from different aquatic environments.

In the present study, we investigated the presence of four Vibrio cholerae virulence genes (ctxA, VPI, Zot and ace) in 36 Vibrio alginolyticus isolates obtained from different seawater, sediments and aquatic organisms. We tested the virulence of 13 V. alginolyticus strains against juveniles of Sparus aurata and this virulence was correlated with the presence of V.

What About the Sexual Orientation of the Offspring of Lesbian and Gay Parents? A Multidimensional, Time and Gender-Based Answer.

This study examined the sexual orientation of 30 young adult children of lesbian and gay parents, analyzing three dimensions (sexual behavior, sexual attraction and sexual self-identification), their evolution over time and the possible influence of gender (19 women and 11 men). Sexual orientation was measured using KSOG. The results revealed that most participants defined themselves as heterosexual only, although percentages varied between 87% for sexual behavior to 67% for sexual attraction and 60% for sexual self-identification.

Nutrition, Physical Activity, and New Technology Programs on Obesity Prevention in Primary Education: A Systematic Review.

Early acquisition of healthy lifestyle habits is crucial for good adult health. For this reason, the primary stage of education is a critical period to implement educational policies in this regard. The aim of this review is to compile the published evidence regarding school interventions at the primary stage aimed at preventing obesity, and which integrate as part of their action plan two features: an improvement in knowledge or nutrition habits and the promotion of physical activity (PA), and the use of new information and communications technologies (ICT) to do this.

Childhood wheezing phenotypes and their association to perinatal factors: a longitudinal study.

Introduction: Multiple gestational and early life factors have been described as the variables that increase the risk for each phenotype of infantile wheezing. Our objective was to study the evolution of wheezing in a cohort of children followed up to 9-10 years of age and its relationship with different perinatal risk factors.

Methods: A longitudinal study was made on the evolution of wheezing, over time, in 1164 children from Salamanca (Spain) included in the International Study of Wheezing in Infants, when the children were 12 months old.

Single mothers by choice in Spain: Parenting and psychosocial adjustment in adopted and ART children.

This study explores the effects of family structure (single mother by choice/partnered mother), pathway to motherhood (adoption/assisted reproduction techniques or ART), and parenting style on children's psychological adjustment and social competence. Ninety-eight families participated: 45 single mothers by choice (29 adoptive, 16 by ART); and 53 partnered mothers (27 adoptive, 26 by ART). Ninety-eight children were evaluated ( = 5.

Fetal sex discordance.

Fetal sex discordance is an entity that is becoming more frequent due to the expansion of the cfDNA for prenatal diagnosis. Its incidence can be estimated in 1/1500-2000 pregnancies, a frequency as high as that of some common chromosomopathies. The causes of this phenomenon are multiple and diverse, ranging from laboratory errors to important pathologies such as disorders of sexual differentiation.

Developing OECD test guidelines for regulatory testing of nanomaterials to ensure mutual acceptance of test data.

The OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) provides a global forum for discussion of nano-safety issues. Together with the OECD Test Guidelines Programme (TGP) the WPMN has explored the need for adaptation of some of the existing OECD Test Guidelines (TGs) and Guidance Documents (GDs) as well as developing new TGs and GDs to specifically address NM issues. An overview is provided of progress in the TGP and WPMN, and information on supporting initiatives, regarding the development of TGs for nanomaterials addressing Physical Chemical Properties, Effects on Biotic Systems, Environmental Fate and Behaviour, and Health Effects.

Physico-chemical properties of manufactured nanomaterials - Characterisation and relevant methods. An outlook based on the OECD Testing Programme.

Identifying and characterising nanomaterials require additional information on physico-chemical properties and test methods, compared to chemicals in general. Furthermore, regulatory decisions for chemicals are usually based upon certain toxicological properties, and these effects may not be equivalent to those for nanomaterials. However, regulatory agencies lack an authoritative decision framework for nanomaterials that links the relevance of certain physico-chemical endpoints to toxicological effects.

Review of achievements of the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials' Testing and Assessment Programme. From exploratory testing to test guidelines.

This paper charts the almost ten years of history of OECD's work on nanosafety, during which the programme of the OECD on the Testing and Assessment of Manufactured Nanomaterials covered the testing of eleven nanomaterials for about 59 end-points addressing physical-chemical properties, mammalian and environmental toxicity, environmental fate and material safety. An overview of the materials tested, the test methods applied and the discussions regarding the applicability of the OECD test guidelines, which are recognised methods for regulatory testing of chemicals, are given. The results indicate that many existing OECD test guidelines are suitable for nanomaterials and consequently, hazard data collected using such guidelines will fall under OECD's system of Mutual Acceptance of Data (MAD) which is a legally binding instrument to facilitate the international acceptance of information for the regulatory safety assessment of chemicals.

Oyster parasites Bonamia ostreae and B. exitiosa co-occur in Galicia (NW Spain): spatial distribution and infection dynamics.

Bonamiosis constrains the flat oyster industry worldwide. The protistan species Bonamia ostreae had been considered solely responsible for this disease in Europe, but the report of B. exitiosa infecting Ostrea edulis 5 yr ago in Galicia (NW Spain), and subsequently in other European countries, raised the question of the relevance of each species in bonamiosis.

Infection of Manila clams Ruditapes philippinarum from Galicia (NW Spain) with a Mikrocytos-like parasite.

The name 'microcells' is frequently used to refer to small-sized unicellular stages of molluscan parasites of the genera Bonamia (Rhizaria, Haplosporidia) and Mikrocytos (Rhizaria). Histological examination of Manila clams Ruditapes philippinarum revealed microcells in the connective tissue of adductor muscle, foot, mantle, gills, siphon and visceral mass. The clams had been collected from 4 beds on the coast of Galicia, Spain.

Late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis: mutations in the CLN2 gene and clinical course in Spanish patients.

Late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (Jansky-Bielchowsky disease) is a rare disease caused by mutations in the CLN2 gene. The authors report the clinical outcome and correlate with genotype in 12 Spanish patients with this disease. Psychomotor regression, epilepsy, and other clinical symptoms/signs were assessed.

Prevalence of natural polymorphisms at the HCV NS5A gene associated with resistance to daclatasvir, an NS5A inhibitor.

Background: Daclatasvir (BMS-790052) is an investigational molecule that inhibits the HCV NS5A protein and shows potent antiviral activity apparently across all HCV genotypes. Selection of drug resistance mutations has been reported only for HCV genotype 1, and no information exists for other HCV variants and/or in HIV-HCV-coinfected individuals.

Methods: All interferon-α-naive, HIV-HCV-coinfected patients newly attended at Hospital Carlos III (Madrid, Spain) in 2011 were identified.

Nuclear insertions of mitochondrial origin: Database updating and usefulness in cancer studies.

Nuclear insertions of mitochondrial origin (NUMTs) can be useful tools in evolution and population studies. However, due to their similarity to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), NUMTs may also be a source of contamination in mtDNA studies. The main goal of this work is to present a database of NUMTs, based on the latest version of the human genome-GRCh37 draft.

Short communication: severe immune suppression in patients infected with R5-tropic HIV-1 strains is associated with increased gp120 net charge at variable regions.

CXCR4-tropic viruses have been associated with advanced immune suppression. However, 50% of patients with AIDS exclusively harbor CCR5-tropic viruses. The net charge at HIV-1 envelope gp120 variable regions was examined in 66 HIV-1-infected individuals with CCR5-tropic viruses, of whom 30 had less than 200 cells/mm(3).

Dynamics of HIV tropism under suppressive antiretroviral therapy: implications for tropism testing in subjects with undetectable viraemia.

Objectives: The use of maraviroc as part of a simplification of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is hampered by the difficulty of assessing viral tropism in patients with undetectable viraemia. In this context, information on tropism might be obtained from testing either older stored viraemic sera collected before initiation of ART or current proviral DNA in peripheral blood cells.

Methods: HIV-1-infected individuals who had initiated ART and had undetectable viraemia for >2 years were identified.

Increase in serum bilirubin in HIV/hepatitis-C virus-coinfected patients on atazanavir therapy following initiation of pegylated-interferon and ribavirin.

Atazanavir use is associated with increases in serum bilirubin. Ribavirin, used to treat hepatitis-C infection, cause hemolysis and may worsen hyperbilirubinemia. We studied HIV/hepatitis-C virus-coinfected patients who initiated hepatitis-C therapy.

Impact of antiretroviral therapy on viral tropism in HIV-infected patients followed longitudinally for over 5 years.

Background: Viral tropism plays a major role in HIV pathogenesis and may influence the activity of entry inhibitors. The impact of antiretroviral therapy use on the dynamics of viral tropism over time is still poorly understood.

Patients And Methods: HIV co-receptor usage was determined longitudinally for over 5 years in 237 plasma specimens collected from 73 distinct HIV-1-infected drug-naive individuals, 42 of whom initiated antiretroviral therapy thereafter and 31 who remained untreated.

Correlation between a phenotypic assay and three bioinformatic tools for determining HIV co-receptor use.

The predictive value of three genotypic methods to determine HIV-1 co-receptor usage was assessed in 83 plasma specimens taking as reference the results obtained using a recombinant phenotypic assay (Phenoscript). The best concordance was found for webPSSM, followed by geno2pheno and wetcat (85.9, 71.

Antimony distribution and mobility in topsoils and plants (Cytisus striatus, Cistus ladanifer and Dittrichia viscosa) from polluted Sb-mining areas in Extremadura (Spain).

A study about topsoil antimony distribution and mobility from the soils to the biomass has been afforded in three abandoned Sb mining areas located at Extremadura. Physico-chemical characteristics of the soils and total antimony levels were measured in soils and autochthonous plant species (Cytisus striatus, Cistus ladanifer and Dittrichia viscosa). Comparison with corresponding values in reference areas isolated from the mining activities is discussed.

Effect of C-reactive protein on Fcgamma receptor II in cultured bovine endothelial cells.

The major CRP (C-reactive protein) receptor on leucocytes has been identified as the low-affinity IgG receptor Fcgamma receptor II (CD32). Our aim was to assess whether inflammation may modify the presence of the CD32 receptor in BAEC (bovine aortic endothelial cells). Confocal microscopy experiments showed a weak expression of the CD32 receptor in control BAEC that was slightly increased by 10 microg/ml CRP.

Phenotypic characterization of a Candida albicans strain deficient in its major exoglucanase.

Both alleles of the XOG1 gene of Candida albicans, which encodes a protein with exoglucanase activity, were sequentially disrupted. Enzymic analysis of either cell extracts or culture supernatants of disrupted strains revealed that this gene is responsible for the major exoglucanase activity in C. albicans, although residual exoglucanase activity could still be detected.