Adaptability of the gut microbiota of the German cockroach Blattella germanica to a periodic antibiotic treatment.

High-throughput sequencing studies have shown that diet or antimicrobial treatments impact animal gut microbiota equilibrium. However, properties related to the gut microbial ecosystem stability, such as resilience, resistance, or functional redundancy, must be better understood. To shed light on these ecological processes, we combined advanced statistical methods with 16 S rRNA gene sequencing, functional prediction, and fitness analyses in the gut microbiota of the cockroach Blattella germanica subject to three periodic pulses of the antibiotic (AB) kanamycin (n=512).

Volume electron microscopy analysis of synapses in primary regions of the human cerebral cortex.

Functional and structural studies investigating macroscopic connectivity in the human cerebral cortex suggest that high-order associative regions exhibit greater connectivity compared to primary ones. However, the synaptic organization of these brain regions remains unexplored. In the present work, we conducted volume electron microscopy to investigate the synaptic organization of the human brain obtained at autopsy.

Emotional salience modulates the forward-flow of memory.

As we navigate our day-to-day lives, we regularly adapt our behaviour according to what we predict may happen next in a given context. When an unexpected event occurs, our predictions about the world are disrupted and must be updated. Unexpected, isolated events, particularly with high emotionality, are also better recalled.

Exploring the Relationship Between Instagram Use and Self-Criticism, Self-Compassion, and Body Dissatisfaction in the Spanish Population: Observational Study.

Background: The widespread use of online social networks, particularly among the younger demographic, has catalyzed a growing interest in exploring their influence on users' psychological well-being. Instagram (Meta), a visually oriented platform, has garnered significant attention. Prior research has consistently indicated that Instagram usage correlates with heightened levels of perfectionism, body dissatisfaction, and diminished self-esteem.

Neuroactive steroids fluctuate with regional specificity in the central and peripheral nervous system across the rat estrous cycle.

Neuroactive steroids (i.e., sex steroid hormones and neurosteroids) are important physiological regulators of nervous function and potential neuroprotective agents for neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders.

Understanding public perceptions and discussions on diseases involving chronic pain through social media: cross-sectional infodemiology study.

Background: Chronic pain is a highly prevalent medical condition that negatively impacts quality of life and is associated with considerable functional disability. Certain diseases, such as fibromyalgia, headache, paraplegia, neuropathy, and multiple sclerosis, manifest with chronic pain.

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the number and type of tweets (original or retweet) related to chronic pain, as well as to analyze the emotions and compare the societal impact of the diseases under study.

Aging is associated with sex-specific alteration in the expression of genes encoding for neuroestradiol synthesis and signaling proteins in the mouse trigeminal somatosensory input.

Pain perception is influenced by sex and aging, with previous studies indicating the involvement of aromatase, the estradiol synthase enzyme, in regulating pain perception. Previous research has established the presence of aromatase in dorsal root ganglia sensory neurons and its role in modulating pain perception. The present study aims to explore the implications of aging and sex on the expression of aromatase and estrogen receptors in the trigeminal ganglion.

Regional insights on tobacco-related tweets: unveiling user opinions and usage patterns.

Introduction: Tobacco consumption and its impact on health remain high worldwide. Additionally, it is a contentious issue generating significant controversy. Twitter has proven to be a useful platform for evaluating public health topics related to population health behaviors, and tobacco consumption.

Serotonergic and dopaminergic neurons in the dorsal raphe are differentially altered in a mouse model for parkinsonism.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by motor impairments caused by degeneration of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. In addition to these symptoms, PD patients often suffer from non-motor comorbidities including sleep and psychiatric disturbances, which are thought to depend on concomitant alterations of serotonergic and noradrenergic transmission. A primary locus of serotonergic neurons is the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), providing brain-wide serotonergic input.

PD-1/PD-L1 axis: implications in immune regulation, cancer progression, and translational applications.

The PD-1/PD-L1 axis is a complex signaling pathway that has an important role in the immune system cells. Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) acts as an immune checkpoint on the T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, natural killer (NK), macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs), monocytes, and myeloid cells. Its ligand, the programmed cell death 1 ligand (PD-L1), is expressed in the surface of the antigen-presenting cells (APCs).

Neurovascular and immune factors of vulnerability of substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons in non-human primates.

Dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tier of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) degenerate prominently in Parkinson's disease (PD), while those in the dorsal tier and ventral tegmental area are relatively spared. The factors determining why these neurons are more vulnerable than others are still unrevealed. Neuroinflammation and immune cell infiltration have been demonstrated to be a key feature of neurodegeneration in PD.

A comprehensive study of the academic benefits and practical recommendations to include resistance training programs in institutional education.

The connection between physical activity and cognitive function has become a focus of attention in educational research in recent years. Regular exercise has been shown to have significant positive effects on physical health, but it also appears to have a significant impact on cognitive function and academic performance. Of all the exercise modalities, resistance training has drawn interest for its ability to improve cerebral abilities in addition to physical well-being.

Emerging Pro-neurogenic Therapeutic Strategies for Neurodegenerative Diseases: A Review of Pre-clinical and Clinical Research.

The neuroscience community has largely accepted the notion that functional neurons can be generated from neural stem cells in the adult brain, especially in two brain regions: the subventricular zone of the lateral ventricles and the subgranular zone in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. However, impaired neurogenesis has been observed in some neurodegenerative diseases, particularly in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases, and also in Lewy Body dementia. Therefore, restoration of neurogenic function in neurodegenerative diseases emerges as a potential therapeutic strategy to counteract, or at least delay, disease progression.

Gene therapy for Lafora disease in the Epm2a mouse model.

Lafora disease is a rare and fatal form of progressive myoclonic epilepsy typically occurring early in adolescence. The disease results from mutations in the EPM2A gene, encoding laforin, or the EPM2B gene, encoding malin. Laforin and malin work together in a complex to control glycogen synthesis and prevent the toxicity produced by misfolded proteins via the ubiquitin-proteasome system.

Exacerbated Activation of the NLRP3 Inflammasome in the Placentas from Women Who Developed Chronic Venous Disease during Pregnancy.

Chronic venous disease (CVD) comprises a spectrum of morphofunctional disorders affecting the venous system, affecting approximately 1 in 3 women during gestation. Emerging evidence highlights diverse maternofetal implications stemming from CVD, particularly impacting the placenta. While systemic inflammation has been associated with pregnancy-related CVD, preliminary findings suggest a potential link between this condition and exacerbated inflammation in the placental tissue.

Oxidative Stress, Lipid Peroxidation and Ferroptosis Are Major Pathophysiological Signatures in the Placental Tissue of Women with Late-Onset Preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia, a serious and potentially life-threatening medical complication occurring during pregnancy, is characterized by hypertension and often accompanied by proteinuria and multiorgan dysfunction. It is classified into two subtypes based on the timing of diagnosis: early-onset (EO-PE) and late-onset preeclampsia (LO-PE). Despite being less severe and exhibiting distinct pathophysiological characteristics, LO-PE is more prevalent than EO-PE, although both conditions have a significant impact on placental health.

Prognostic Value of Histone Acetyl Transferase 1 (HAT-1) and Inflammatory Signatures in Pancreatic Cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is a type of gastrointestinal tumor with a growing incidence and mortality worldwide. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) constitutes 90% of cases, and late-stage diagnosis is common, leading to a 5-year survival rate of less than 10% in high-income countries. The use of biomarkers has different proven translational applications, facilitating early diagnosis, accurate prognosis and identification of potential therapeutic targets.

Ti/Ta-based composite polysaccharide scaffolds for guided bone regeneration in total hip arthroplasty.

Guided bone regeneration can play an important role in orthopedic applications. This work presents the synthesis and characterization of composite scaffolds based on polysaccharides loaded with microparticles of titanium or tantalum as novel materials proposed for composite systems with promising characteristics for guided bone regeneration. Ti/Ta composite scaffolds were synthesized using chitosan and gellan gum as organic substrates and crosslinked with oxidized dextran resulting in stable inorganic-organic composites.

Selection versus transmission: Quantitative and organismic biology in antibiotic resistance.

We aimed to determine the importance of selection (mostly dependent on the anthropogenic use of antimicrobials) and transmission (mostly dependent on hygiene and sanitation) as drivers of the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacterial populations. The first obstacle to estimating the relative weight of both independent variables is the lack of detailed quantitative data concerning the number of bacterial cells, potentially either pathogenic or harmless, and bacterial species exposed to antimicrobial action in the microbiotas of specific environments. The second obstacle is the difficulty of considering the relative importance of the transmission and selection exerting their combined effects on antibiotic resistance across eco-biological levels.

The recombination initiation functions DprA and RecFOR suppress microindel mutations in Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1.

Short-Patch Double Illegitimate Recombination (SPDIR) has been recently identified as a rare mutation mechanism. During SPDIR, ectopic DNA single-strands anneal with genomic DNA at microhomologies and get integrated during DNA replication, presumably acting as primers for Okazaki fragments. The resulting microindel mutations are highly variable in size and sequence.

Public perception of psychiatry, psychology and mental health professionals: a 15-year analysis.

Background: X (previously known as "Twitter") serves as a platform for open discussions on mental health, providing an avenue for scrutinizing public perspectives regarding psychiatry, psychology and their associated professionals.

Objective: To analyze the conversations happening on X about psychiatrists, psychologists, and their respective disciplines to understand how the public perception of these professionals and specialties has evolved over the last 15 years.

Methods: We collected and analyzed all tweets posted in English or Spanish between 2007 and 2023 referring to psychiatry, psychology, neurology, mental health, psychiatrist, psychologist, or neurologist using advance topic modelling and sentiment analysis.

ApTOLL: A new therapeutic aptamer for cytoprotection and (re)myelination after multiple sclerosis.

Background And Purpose: ApTOLL is an aptamer selected to antagonize toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a relevant actor for innate immunity involved in inflammatory responses in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other diseases. The currently available therapeutic arsenal to treat MS is composed of immunomodulators but, to date, there are no (re)myelinating drugs available in clinics. In our present study, we studied the effect of ApTOLL on different animal models of MS.

Evaluating the Integration of Patient Safety in Medical Training in Spain.

The aim of this study was to determine the degree of integration of patient safety in the training of medical faculties at universities in Spain. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted. An assessment was made of the curse syllabi of Spanish medical schools, summarizing the proportion of faculties that present each of the topics recommended in the WHO's curriculum guide.