Juan-Carlos Saiz

Distinct repertoire of antigenic variants of foot-and-mouth disease virus in the presence or absence of immune selection.

Trabajo presentado en el XVI Congreso de la Sociedad Espanola de Malherbologia, celebrado en Pamplona-Iruna, entre los dias 25 y 27 de octubre de 2017.La reiterada multiplicacion vegetativa de cultivares de vid (Vitis vinifera L.) de elite para la vinificacion provoca la acumulacion de variacion somatica que es explotada en la mejora varietal. Considerando la hipotesis de que variantes con ciclo largo de maduracion (baja tasa de acumulacion de azucares) pueden adaptarse mejor a condiciones de alta temperatura, en este estudio se caracterizaron 450 accesiones de ‘Tempranillo’ buscando clones que difiriesen en la duracion del ciclo de maduracion. Se preseleccionaron diez clones de ciclo largo y nueve de ciclo corto y la consistencia de su ciclo se testo sobre esquejes fructiferos. Asi se seleccionaron dos clones de ciclo largo y uno de ciclo corto, que ademas de mantener diferencias consistentes en el ciclo, presentaban un rendimiento y una produccion de antocianinas equilibrados. Se realizo un analisis transcriptomico de estos tres clones, mediante la tecnica RNA-seq, con el objetivo de identificar la variacion genetica responsable de las diferencias en el proceso de maduracion. Comparando el transcriptoma de uvas que estaban completando el envero, se detectaron posibles mutaciones puntuales responsables del fenotipo de ciclo largo en uno de los clones. Asimismo, se identifico una region cromosomica con tres genes localizados consecutivamente que se hallaban sobreexpresados en el otro clon de ciclo largo analizado. La secuencia de los transcritos de estos genes indica que la sobreexpresion se debe a la induccion especifica de uno de los alelos de cada gen, lo que sugiere la presencia de una mutacion en cis con una region reguladora en una copia del cromosoma, que causaria la sobreexpresion ectopica de los tres genes y la ralentizacion de la maduracion. Estos resultados pueden ser utiles en programas de mejora de la vid dirigidos a la adaptacion de la elaboracion de vino de calidad en condiciones de cambio climatico.4 paginas.-- 2 tablas.-- 10 referencias.-- Comunicacion oral presentada en el VIII Congreso Iberico de las Ciencias del Suelo. VIII Congresso Iberico de Ciencias do Solo. DONOSTIA-SAN SEBASTIAN. 20 - 22 junio 2018..-- El documento completo se encuentra para su descarga en http://www.cics2018.com/libro-de-abstracts/“Connected Worlds: the Caribbean, Origin of Modern World”. This project has received funding from the European Union´s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 823846La crisis ha reducido las entradas por reagrupacion familiar debido a un aumento de las denegaciones y una caida de las solicitudes derivada de las dificultades economicas que atraviesan los inmigrantes y el endurecimiento de los requisitos legales. Esta caida corresponde casi en exclusiva a los no-comunitarios, para los comunitarios apenas se ha producido variacion. Las diferencias entre ambos cualitativas: los comunitarios reagrupan mayoritariamente a sus conyuges y ascendientes, mientras que los no comunitarios reagrupan sobre todo a descendientes. Por ultimo, la mayor precariedad legal de los reagrupados por regimen general se refleja tambien en autorizaciones de muy corta duracion y sometidas a requisitos economicos de renovacion mas exigentes, lo que amenaza con complicar mas aun la vida de las familias reagrupadasProject EPOS Implementation Phase (EPOS IP) (Grant Agreement no: 676564-EPOS IP Call H2020-IFRADEV-12015-1)In this paper we present a new approach to monitor noise pollution involving citizens and built upon the notions of participatory sensing and citizen science. We enable citizens to measure their personal exposure to noise in their everyday environment by using GPS-equipped mobile phones as noise sensors. The geo-localised measures and user-generated meta-data can be automatically sent and shared online with the public to contribute to the collective noise mapping of cities. Our prototype, called Noise Tube, can be found online.Trabajo presentado en el II Congreso Medio Rural, Agricultura y Cambio climatico, celebrado en Espana, en marzo de 2009Seminario: Arquitectura saadi. Marruecos siglos XVI-XVII. EEA, CSIC, LAAC (Granada), 12 y 13 de abril de 2018.Trabajo presentado al Workshop and Summer School on Field Robotics (euRathlon/ARCAS), celebrado en Sevilla (Espana) del 15 al 18 de junio de 2014.The project COINVENT acknowledges the nancial support of the Future and Emerging Tech- nologies (FET) programme within the Seventh Framework Programme for Research of the Eu- ropean Commission, under FET-Open Grant number: 611553PROYECTO: Alfabetizacion cientifica en la escuela: mejorar las estrategias y construir nuevas practicas de ensenanza de las ciencias en la educacion de los primeros anos (SciLit). PROGRAMA ERASMUS + DE LA UNION EUROPEA. Esta guia para el docente es el resultado de una estrecha colaboracion entre los ocho socios de este programa, de cinco paises europeos, con sus diferentes valores y culturas, metodos de trabajo, necesidades, etc. Esta pluralidad refuerza lo que une a los cientificos y maestros: el amor por el conocimiento, Que ambos grupos creen y transmitan en un espacio intelectual comun que supera cualquier tipo de fronteras. PDF de 130 paginasPoster presentado en la 2nd International Ocean Research Conference, celebrada en Barcelona del 17 al 21 de noviembre de 2014.Trabajo presentado en el International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV16), celebrado en Swansea (Reino Unido), del 29 de junio al 1 de julio de 2016CPESS-5, Centro Europeo de Astronomia Espacial, ESAC en Villanueva de la Canada, Madrid, del 6 al 8 de Junio de 2017. -- https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/cpess-5Trabajo presentado al Spanish JRU EGI-ENGAGE meeting celebrado en Madrid el 23 de febrero de 2015.Poster (P-FA-34 ) presentado en la XVIII Reunion de la Sociedad Espanola de Cromatografia y Tecnicas Afines (SECyTA 2018), Granada, del 2 al 4 de Octubre de 2018.Trabajo presentado en el XII Congreso de Estudiantes de la Seccion de Quimica celebrado en San Cristobal de La Laguna, Tenerife (Espana), del 11 al 13 de abril de 2016.2 .pdf Files ( extended abstract, 1 Pag.; 1 Poster copy from the original by Authors). Under Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).Trabajo presentado en la 6th European Conference on Python in Science (EuroSciPy 2013), celebrada en Bruselas del 21 al 25 de agosto de 2013.-- Editors: Pierre de Buyl, Nelle Varoquaux.-- arXiv:1405.0166Trabajo presentad en el World Aquaculture 2011, celebrado en Natal (Brasil) del 6 al 10 de junio de 2011.Comunicacion oral presentada en la European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2016 Vienna | Austria | 17–22 April 2016The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Unions Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007 - 2013) under grant agreement no. 320116 for the research p roject FamiliesAndSocieties.6 paginas.-- 4 tablas.-- 12 referencias.-- Comunicacion oral presentada en el XIII Simposio Hispano-Portugues de Relaciones Hidricas en las Plantas “Aprendiendo a optimizar el uso del agua en las plantas para hacer de nuestro entorno un ambiente mas sostenible” Libro de resumenes . 18 – 20 de octubre de 2016 Pamplona (Espana) y organizado por El Grupo de Fisiologia del Estres en Plantas (Unidad asociada al CSIC)This paper is based on a 16-year-long ethnography of mass grave exhumations in contemporary Spain and deals with the tortuous, painful, much-disputed, and incomplete unmaking of a concrete and massive militaristic inscription of Spain: that related to its last internal war (1936–1939) and subsequent dictatorship (1939–1975). To understand this process and its historical roots, the paper first dissects the formation of a “funerary apartheid” in the country since the end of the war. Second, it analyzes the impact on the social fabric of the mass grave exhumations of Republican civilians that started in the year 2000. Third, it traces how these disinterments have intersected with Spain’s most prominent Francoist stronghold, the Valley of the Fallen, and threaten the dictator’s burial place. Finally, it discusses the parallel dismantling of the dictatorship’s official statuary that once presided over prominent public spaces in many cities and some military quarters. It argues that rolling back militarization by dismantling war-derived cartographies of death, challenging military burial arrangements, or degrading statues of generals necessarily involves a certain level of remilitarizing by other means. I call this mirroring and deeply embodied memorial backfiring “phantom militarism.”Trabajo presentado al XII Congreso de la Sociedad Espanola para la Conservacion y Estudio de los Mamiferos (SECEM), celebrado en Burgos (Espana) del 4 al 7 de diciembre de 2015.Dynamic models of PEM stacks are the basis to design controllers for appropriate performance, maximum efficiency and minimum degradation. Fluid dynamic models of different dimensions can be found in the literature; however, these models are rarely used to improve the control laws and strategies. This work presents a control oriented 1+1D model (distributed in the direction of the stack flow channels). The model is based on a similar model presented by M. Mangold [1], is implemented in MATLAB Simulink. The model is validated using experimental data of a Powercell stack.Authors gratefully acknowledge MICINN Projects AGL2 008-00344/AGR and HA2008-0014 and FEDER financial support from the European Union.Comunicacion presentada en el 10th International Symposium on Reproductive Physiology of Fish, celebrado en Olhao, Portugal, del 25 al 30 de mayo de 2014Trabajo presentado al 18th International Symposiun on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (Ro-Man), celebrado en Toyama (Japon) del 27 de septiembre al 2 de octubre de 2009.Trabajo presentado en el FENS Regional Meeting, celebrado en Belgrado (Sebia), del 10 al 13 de julio de 2019This thesis is devoted to design Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategies aiming to enhance the management of constrained generalised flow-based networks, with special attention to the economic optimisation and robust performance of such systems. Several control schemes are developed in this thesis to exploit the available economic information of the system operation and the disturbance information obtained from measurements and forecasting models. Dynamic network flows theory is used to develop control-oriented models that serve to design MPC controllers specialised for flow networks with additive disturbances and periodically time-varying dynamics and costs. The control strategies developed in this thesis can be classified in two categories: centralised MPC strategies and non-centralised MPC strategies. Such strategies are assessed through simulations of a real case study: the Barcelona drinking water network (DWN). Regarding the centralised strategies, different economic MPC formulations are first studied to guarantee recursive feasibility and stability under nominal periodic flow demands and possibly time-varying economic parameters and multi-objective cost functions. Additionally, reliability-based MPC, chance-constrained MPC and tree-based MPC strategies are proposed to address the reliability of both the flow storage and the flow transportation tasks in the network. Such strategies allow to satisfy a customer service level under future flow demand uncertainty and to efficiently distribute overall control effort under the presence of actuators degradation. Moreover, soft-control techniques such as artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic are used to incorporate self-tuning capabilities to an economic certainty-equivalent MPC controller. Since there are objections to the use of centralised controllers in large-scale networks, two non-centralised strategies are also proposed. First, a multi-layer distributed economic MPC strategy of low computational complexity is designed with a control topology structured in two layers. In a lower layer, a set of local MPC agents are in charge of controlling partitions of the overall network by exchanging limited information on shared resources and solving their local problems in a hierarchical-like fashion. Moreover, to counteract the loss of global economic information due to the decomposition of the overall control task, a coordination layer is designed to influence non-iteratively the decision of local controllers towards the improvement of the overall economic performance. Finally, a cooperative distributed economic MPC formulation based on a periodic terminal cost/region is proposed. Such strategy guarantees convergence to a Nash equilibrium without the need of a coordinator and relies on an iterative and global communication of local controllers, which optimise in parallel their control actions but using a centralised model of the network.Resumen del poster presentado al XII Simposio Nacional y X Iberico de Maduracion y Postcosecha (POST18), celebrado en Badajoz del 4 al 7 de junio de 2018.Trabajo presentado al EGI Community Forum, celebrado en Bari (Italia) del 10 al 13 de noviembre de 2015.Trabajo presentado al III Congreso Iberoamericano de Hidrogeno y Pilas de Combustible (IberConappice), celebrado en Huesca del 17 al 20 de octubre de 2017.Trabajo presentado al 8th International Symposium on Nanotechnology, Occupational and Environmental Health, celebrado en Elsinore (Dinamarca) del 29 de mayo al 1 de junio de 2017.Trabajo presentado en el Aquaculture Europe 16 (Food for Thought), celebrado en Edimburgo del 20 al 23 de septiembre de 2016.Trabajo presentado en la SETAC Europe 25th Annual Meeting (Environmental protection in a multi-stressed world: challenges for science, industry and regulators), celebrada en Barcelona del 3 al 7 de mayo de 2015.Trabajo presentado en la XXV Reunion Bienal de Quimica Organica celebrada en Alicante del 4 al 6 de junio de 2014.8 pages, 4 figures, 15 references.-- International Symposium on Olive Irrigation and Oil Quality, Nazareth, Israel.Trabajo presentado a la 2nd Euro-Mediterranean Conference for Environmental Integration (EMCEI), celebrado en Sousse (Tunisia) del 10 al 13 de octubre de 2019.Trabajo presentado en la Third International Legume Society Conference ILS3 2019 (Legumes for human and planet health), celebrada en Poznan (Polonia) del 21 al 24 de mayo de 2019.he European Grid Initiative (EGI) provides a sustainable pan-European Grid computing infrastructure for e-Science based on a network of regional and national Grids. The middleware driving this production infrastructure is constantly adapted to the changing needs of the EGI Community by deploying new features and phasing out other features and components that are no longer needed. Unlike previous e-Infrastructure projects, EGI does not develop its own middleware solution, but instead sources the required components from Technology Providers and integrates them in the Unified Middleware Distribution (UMD). In order to guarantee a high quality and reliable operation of the infrastructure, all UMD software must undergo a release process that covers the definition of the functional, performance and quality requirements, the verification of those requirements and testing in production environments.Trabajo presentado al VI Workshop Probioticos, Prebioticos y Salud: Evidencia Cientifica, celebrado en Oviedo del 5 al 6 de febrero de 2015. Abstract en Nutricion Hospitalaria 31(suplemento 1): pagina 130.Comunicacion presentada en el 10th International Symposium on Reproductive Physiology of Fish, celebrado en Olhao, Portugal, del 25 al 30 de mayo de 2014A sterol esterase purified from cultures of the sapstain fungus Ophiostoma piceae was able to hydrolyse sterol esters and glycerides. The kinetics of sterol esters and triglyceride hydrolysis by this new esterase, estimated using a pH-stat, showed a Kmapp and a kcatapp in the range of 0.9–1.1 mM and 70–300 s-1, respectively. Its ability to hydrolyse both pure sterol esters and natural mixtures of saponifiable lipids from eucalypt wood was compared with those of commercial sterol esterases from other microbial sources. Its specific activity on sterol esters was higher than that found with all the commercial esterases assayed, and the highest hydrolysis of eucalypt sterol esters was also attained using the O. piceae esterase. This sterol esterase could be of biotechnological interest for the hydrolysis of sterol esters that form pitch deposits in paper pulp manufacturing.Tradicionalmente no ha sido fácil trabajar con los datos de satélite debido a la complejidad de los formatos, el tamaño de los propios datos y la necesidad de tener un software de lectura muy especializado. La motivación que hay detrás de éste proyecto ha sido la de desarrollar una interfase que facilite el uso de los datos satélite permitiendo un cierto nivel de manipulación y mejora de las imágenes. Generalizando, en teledetección, se puede pensar en dos tipos de usuarios de los datos satélites: los que necesitan trabajar con los datos brutos y aquellos que tienen suficiente con una visión cualitativa y, en definitiva, les basta con las imágenes de satélite procesadas. Es para estos últimos que se ha construido Revista de Teledetección. 2006. Número Especial: 105-108Forest fires are a major factor of disturbance in many terrestrial ecosystems, especially in European areas under Mediterranean type of climate. This is due to the confluence of specific climatic, ecological and socio-economic conditions. Fire produces important changes in soil organic matter (SOM) both qualitatively and quantitatively, which, in turn, affect relevant physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. These changes also affect a large number of related biotic and abiotic factors and processes. The main objective of this PhD Thesis is to deepen the knowledge of the impact of forest fires on SOM in relation to changes in soil water repellency, using advanced techniques of molecular analysis. Due to the high number of variables that may influence soil water repellency and the chemical alteration of organic matter after fire, we chose the sandy soils of the Donana National Park for this study, with well-known and relatively simple composition. In any case, we have followed the classical scheme of comparison of burnt soils with unaffected soils (control), under the same geomorphological and climatic characteristics. Water repellency is one of the main edaphic properties affected by forest fires. This physical property reduces the affinity of soil for water, which carries important hydrological, geomorphological and ecological consequences. Fire-induced changes of soil water repellency can be due to numerous factors, although it is generally accepted that the alteration of SOM and, in particular, of its more labile fraction (lipid fraction) is the main variable involved in this process. Due to their environmental implications, there are currently countless works on the effects of fire on SOM and water repellency, which are reviewed in chapter 1. However, the current state of knowledge shows some gaps and aspects insufficiently studied, due either to the complexity of the soil system or to the lack of adequate analytical techniques. Numerous scientific studies indicate that both the type of vegetation and the chemical composition of SOM strongly influence soil water repellency. These studies have focused mainly on the study of complete soils both at the surface and at different depths. However, available information on the influence of organic matter and vegetation on the degree of hydrophobicity of different soil physical fractions is limited. This aspect is studied in detail in chapter 3. In particular, the relation between soils under different vegetation cover, dominated by cork oaks (Quercus suber), eagle fern (Pteridium aquilinum), pine (Pinus pinea) and rockrose (Halimium halimifolium), the amount and quality of organic matter, and water repellency in four particle sieve fractions (1-2, 0.25-1, 0.05-0.25 and <0.05 mm). We observed that the degree of water repellency was significantly different, both among soils under different vegetation cover and among different sieve fractions, with soils under cork oak showing the highest severity of water repellency. In addition, we found a clear relation between the amount of SOM and the degree of water repellency. On the other hand, the molecular analysis of the organic matter from sieve fractions by analytical pyrolysis techniques let us find a relation between the quality of MOS and soil water repellency, the presence of long-chained fatty acids and the degree of humification (evolution) of SOM in the different fractions. The impact of fire on water repellency and SOM was studied especially in soils under cork oaks, due to the greater organic contribution of this type of vegetation, the severe soil water repellency and its pyrophilic character. For the most detailed study, the number of studied sieve fractions was expanded to 6 (1-2, 0.5-1, 0.25-0.5, 0.1-0.25, 0.05-0.1 and <0.05 mm), including also the complete sample. It is known that impacts caused by forest fires on soils are related to changes in SOM. Fire favors the modification or formation of new chemical structures, besides contributing to mass outputs and inputs, such as the contribution of fresh biomass or more or less carbonized residues. This idea has predominated in the focus of a great number of research works, which have aimed to the study of complete soils or some of their horizons. However, the knowledge about the effect of fire on soil granulometric fractions is little known and that is why we consider some relevant questions, such as i) does the chemical composition of organic matter from different sieve fractions vary?, ii) does fire cause the same impact on all fractions?, or iii) what chemical reactions does fire induce in the different particle size fractions? In chapters 4, 5 and 6, we try to give answers to these questions, by means of detailed studies of the molecular composition of the organic matter present in the different fractions. With this aim, we used advanced analytical techniques such as mass spectrometry of isotopic relations of carbon and hydrogen (13C and 2H, respectively) (chapter 4), analytical pyrolysis (chapter 5) and ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry (chapter 6). The study of the isotopic composition of 13C confirms the existence of two compartments of organic matter with different degrees of evolution. The larger sieve fractions contain slightly evolved organic matter, impoverished in 13C and with δ13C values not different from leaf biomass, while finer fractions showed a more evolved organic material, enriched in 13C. Fire produced no changes in this trend, although an increase in the 13C content was observed in all affected fractions. This process may be explained by selective removal of light compounds (lower 13C content) or incorporation of charred residues. The study of the isotopic composition of 2H showed the existence of two differentiated water compartments in the upper centimeters of soil and dependent on the size of particles. No homogeneous behavior of the 2H composition after the fire was observed. The results obtained stimulated a more detailed study (chapters 5 and 6) of the molecular composition of SOM and the different reaction mechanisms induced by fire, focusing now on the fractions of larger (1-2 mm) and finer (<0.05 mm) sizes. For this, graphical tools such as the van Krevelen and Kendrick mass diagrams were used, as well as different indices or geochemical proportions (namely, the index of preferred carbon of short- and long-chained alkanes ratio, C<24/C≥24. The analysis of the SOM composition confirmed the existence of two different compartments of organic carbon in the first centimeters of soil with a different contribution of fire. In the larger fraction (1-2 mm), influenced by lignocellulosic material, fire produced a removal of lipid compounds and an increase of aromatics, with relatively high contribution of lignin-derived material. This may be due to a posteriori input of partially burnt material. On the other hand, humic compounds from the finer fraction, mostly formed by lipid and protein compounds, did not show significant variations after fire. However, an increase in exogenous pyromorphic compounds, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), was detected along with a relative increase of lignin-derived substances. The different molecular composition of studied fractions showed that fire induces different reactions depending on the quality of SOM. Variations in the preferential carbon index and in the proportion of long-chained alkanes aims to the existence of thermal cracking processes. In turn, fire-induced condensation contributed to the increased aromaticity of SOM. However, fire favored reduction reactions in the larger sieve fraction, with a decrease in the atomic O/C ratio but not affecting the H/C ratio. Therefore, it is possible that fire altered the outermost and accessible areas of the organic macromolecules, removing functional groups contaning oxygen but not altering the main molecular structures. Different scientific studies have highlighted an association between soil water repellency and SOM quality, particularly to the proportion and composition of certain lipid compounds. Chapter 7 aims to the study of the impact of fire on the lipid composition of organic matter from different sieve fractions of sandy soils under cork oaks and its relation with the changes in the degree of soil water repellency, using quantitative chromatographic techniques. The main results showed that the severity of water repellency in different sieve fractions varied significantly (p <0.05) after a fire. As observed in Chapter 3, we observed a relation between SOM quantity and quality and water repellency in burnt soils. The analysis of the lipid composition (acid and neutral compounds) confirmed the existence of two compartments of soil organic carbon, with fire causing different alterations in each of them. The proportion of long-chained faty acids increased in all burnt fractions except for the largest one (1-2 mm). This suggests the existence of a contribution of partially burnt material with a relatively high contribution of compounds derived from small-sized fatty acids, so confirming the exogenous contribution of charred cork residues. The decrease in both the quantity and the length of organic acid chains in the burnt larger sieve fraction confirms the existence of a thermal breakdown reaction. This cracking has also been observed in the n-alkane series. Finally, the comparative analysis of soil water repellency and related variables shows that water repellency depends on both the quantity and the quality of SOM and is strongly related to the presence of long-chained fatty acids. These may be considered as surrogate biomarkers of hydrophobicity in sandy soils.NGA was the recipient of a JAE-Predoc contract from Institut d’Investigacions Biome`diques de Barcelona-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cienti´ficas (CSIC) (‘‘Junta para la Ampliacio´n de Estudios’’, partly funded by the European Social Fund of the European Union). CV was the recipient of a fellowship from ‘‘La Caixa’’ foundation. This study was supported by grants PI081396 and PI100378 from the Instituto Carlos III of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacio´n of Spain. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.154 paginas.-- Tesis doctoral leida en el Departamento de Ingenieria Quimica y Tecnologias del Medio Ambiente de la Universidad de Zaragoza.161 Pags.- Tabls.- Figs. Tesis doctoral Univ. Zaragoza, Departamento de Ciencias Agrarias y del Medio Natural, realizada, bajo la direccion de los Drs. Yolanda Gogorcena y Juan Jose Barriuso, en la Estacion Experimental de Aula Dei (EEAD-CSIC) y en el Centro de de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agroalimentaria de Aragon (CITA). Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).Trabajo presentado en Aquaculture Europe (Adding value), celebrado en San Sebastian del 14 al 17 de octubre de 2014.Resumen del poster presentado al VIII International Congress on Analytical Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, celebrado en Barcelona (Espana) del 3 al 5 de julio de 2017.-- et al.Resumen del trabajo presentado al International Symposium on Green Chemistry (ISGC), celebrado en La Rochelle (Francia) del 16 al 19 de mayo de 2017.Resumen del trabajo presentado al 1st FEBS3+, celebrado en Barcelona (Espana) del 23 al 26 de octubre de 2017.The spider fauna of Albania is still insuffi ciently studied. The present list was compiled after a critical review of the existing literature data and taxonomic review of some available collections. The study comprises 335 species from 36 families. In this number, 197 species are new to the spider fauna of the country. According to their current distribution the species can be assigned to 18 zoogeographical catego- ries, grouped into 5 complexes (Cosmopolitic, Holarctic, European, Mediterranean, Endemics). Dominant are Holarctic species (56.4%) followed by European (16.4%) and Mediterranean (16.2%). The endemics (8%) are also well presented and refl ect the local character of the fauna and the main role of the Balkan Peninsula in its origin and formation.Resumen del trabajo presentado al XIVth Congress of the Spanish Biophysical Society, celebrado en Alcala de Henares (Madrid-Espana) del 11 al 13 de junio de 2014.Seminario: Arquitectura saadi. Marruecos siglos XVI-XVII. EEA, CSIC, LAAC (Granada), 12 y 13 de abril de 2018.Trabajo presentado a las XXVI Jornadas Tecnicas SEAE y al X Seminario Agroecologia, Cambio Climatico y Agroturismo: “Innovacion Agroecologica y Cambio Climatico”, celebrado en Orihuela del 19 al 20 de ocubre de 2017.This document has been prepared in the framework of the project for supporting the establishment of MPAs in open seas, including deep seas, with financial support of the European CommissionPoster (P-EA-22) presentado en la XVIII Reunion de la Sociedad Espanola de Cromatografia y Tecnicas Afines (SECyTA 2018), Granada, del 2 al 4 de Octubre de 2018.The expectations raised in the mid-1980s on the potential of genetic engineering for in situ remediation of environmental pollution have not been entirely fulfilled. Yet, we have learned a good deal about the expression of catabolic pathways by bacteria in their natural habitats, and how environmental conditions dictate the expression of desired catalytic activities. The many different choices between nutrients and responses to stresses form a network of transcriptional switches which, given the redundance and robustness of the regulatory circuits involved, can be neither unraveled through standard genetic analysis nor artificially programmed in a simple manner. Available data suggest that population dynamics and physiological control of catabolic gene expression prevail over any artificial attempt to engineer an optimal performance of the wanted catalytic activities. In this review, several valuable spin-offs of past research into genetically modified organisms with environmental applications are discussed, along with the impact of Systems Biology and Synthetic Biology in the future of environmental biotechnology.Advanced computing has become a crucial factor in most areas of science , in some cases may be as critical as the experimental observation . The data analysis and experimental validation of these needs by observation instruments (detectors , sensors, etc ... ) the ability to communicate and interact with computing resources and software tools capable of storing and formatting the scientists analyzed data . This multidisciplinary and collaborative environment is what is known as e- Science . In this work, several solutions have been developed to facilitate transparent access to distributed resources that allow scientists to access a limited specific training are presented herein . The problems that have been addressed have to do with interactivity in access to resources , and the design of workflows. This will be made up of various elements simulate complex systems that interact with each other. Throughout all the work we have collaborated with researchers in Nuclear Fusion and Astrophysics to implement solutions in real scientific computing environments for researchers. Several examples of complex workflows , which are prototypes of what will be a platform for simulation of plasma from a fusion reactor and analysis for the WBC / Planck experiment are presented . Thus we have demonstrated the versatility of the developed tools , when applied to more than one scientific discipline.During the last years biofuel fuel cells (BFCs) have attracted great interest due to their possible applications, especially as electrical power sources for in vivo or ex vivo applications. In BFCs enzymes can be used as biocatalysts for fuel oxidation at the anode and oxidant reduction at the cathode. The majority of EFCs use oxygen-reducing enzymes at the cathode, and glucose-oxidizing enzymes at the anode, as they are very common substrates present in most human physiological fluids. Two multi-copper oxidases, laccase and bilirubin oxidase, and cellobiose dehydrogenase have been studied as possible biocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction and glucose oxidation, respectively. Laccases usually exhibit higher activity at acid pH and they are more inhibited in the presence of chloride ions than bilirubin oxidase. Therefore, native laccases have been engineered by directed evolution for obtaining mutants that show activity also under physiological conditions, and cysteine residues have been introduced by site-directed mutagenesis for oriented immobilization on gold electrodes. The major aim of the Thesis has been the development of biocathodes as they represent the rate-limiting part of the BFC due to the low O2 availability in human body. The development of the bioelectrodes was carried out paying special attention to the different electrode materials and immobilization strategies used to manufacture the biodevices. Indeed, a good immobilization strategy enhances the long-term stability of the biodevice while achieving efficient wiring of the enzyme. Additionally, a larger surface area of the support material allows higher enzyme loading, therefore increasing the current density developed. Gold nanorods, macroporous gold, indium tin oxide and carbonaceous materials have been used for this purpose, obtaining current densities up to 1.5 mA/cm2 for bioelectrocatalytic O2 reduction. Direct electron transfer (DET) based systems are preferred as some possible drawbacks of using mediators are overcome and allow making the miniaturization of the BFC easier. For these reason, all the immobilization strategies presented were developed in order to optimize DET between the enzyme and the electrode surface. Combination of a conventional BFC with electrochemical capacitors is also presented in order to overcome the limitations of both systems, achieving a maximum power output of 0.6 µW at an operating voltage of 0.15 V. This hybrid biodevice was also tested in ex vivo conditions by connecting it directly to the dorsal venous of a human volunteer.Financial support for this study was provided by the Comunidad Autonoma of Madrid (Spain) and European funding from FEDER program (research project S2013/ABI-3028, AVANSECAL-CM). Dra. Gema Flores thanks CSIC for her JAE-Doc contract.The problem of achieving common understanding between agents that use different vocabularies has been mainly addressed by designing techniques that explicitly negotiate mappings between their vocabularies, requiring agents to share a meta-language. In this paper we consider the case of agents that use different vocabularies and have no meta-language in common, but share the knowledge of how to perform a task, given by the specification of an interaction protocol. For this situation, we present a framework that lets agents learn a vocabulary alignment from the experience of interacting. Unlike previous work in this direction, we use open protocols that constrain possible actions instead of defining procedures, making our approach more general. We present two techniques that can be used either to learn an alignment from scratch or to repair an existent one, and we evaluate experimentally their performance.Resumen del trabajo presentado al Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Europe 27th Annual Meeting, celebrado en Bruselas (Belgica) del 7 al 11 de mayo de 2017.This work was supported by the project AGL2012-40128-C03-01 and EU-FEDER funds from the Spanish government.espanolLos margenes de los campos reciben muchas denominaciones locales (linderos, ribazos, etc.) y pueden ser motivo de preocupacion para los agricultores por albergar especies arvenses que pueden devenir infestantes del cultivo. Pero su estudio tambien ha reflejado que pueden ser beneficiosos si albergan diversidad vegetal, la que atraeria a su vez diversidad animal. Estudios recientes realizados en Espana arrojan resultados aparentemente contradictorios y por este motivo se realiza una descripcion de la tipologia de margenes existentes en Espana. Se constata que las diferencias de anchura, altura y pendiente entre margenes, el tipo de vegetacion cercano, asi como la intensidad de la perturbacion que se ejerce en ellos son posiblemente los principales factores que explican porque algunos margenes albergan especies potencialmente nocivas (malas hierbas) y otros no. EnglishThe field margins receive many local names and can cause trouble to farmers if they host weeds that can infest the nearby fields. But their study has shown that they be beneficial if they harbor vegetal diversity, which can attract animal diversity. Recent studies conducted in Spain show apparently contradictory results an due to this, a description of the margin types found in this country is shown in this communication. We confirm that differences in margins width, height and slope, the type of natural vegetation in the area and the disturbance intensity on the margins are probably the main factors explaining why some margins host potentially harmful plant species (weeds) and others do not.22nd IMEKO TC4 International Symposium & 20th International Workshop on ADC Modelling and Testing, 14-15 September 2017, Iasi, Romania.-- 6 pages, 8 figures, 1 tableXIX Seminario Iberico de Quimica Marina (SIQUIMAR), VI Simposio Internacional de Ciencias del Mar - VI International Symposium of Marine Sciences (ISMS 2018), 20- 22 June 2018, Vigo.-- 1 pageSAF2016-77703-C2-2-R of the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Spain and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); AGAUR 2017-SGR-106 and the CERCA Programme of the Generalitat de Catalunya; R. Copas and C. Sanfeliu belong to Group 05 of CIBER Epidemiologia y Salud Publica (CIBERESP) of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, SpainResumen del poster presentado al I Congreso Interdisciplinar en Genetica Humana, celebrado en Madrid del 25 al 28 de abril de 2017.-- et al.Trabajo presentado en Aquaculture Europe 19 (Our future, growing from water), celebrado en Berlin del 7 al 10 de octubre de 2019.Trabajo presentado a la Dynamics of Institutions and Markets in Europe (DIME) Final Conference celebrada del 6 al 8 de abril de 2011 en Maastricht (Paises Bajos).Compared to machines, humans are intelligent and dexterous; they are indispensable for many complex tasks in areas such as flexible manufacturing or scientific experimentation. However, they are also subject to fatigue and inattention, which may cause errors. This motivates automated monitoring systems that verify the correct execution of manipulation sequences. To be practical, such a monitoring system should not require laborious programming.Trabajo presentado en el 18th International Symposium on Fish Nutrition and Feeding (ISFNF. 40 years of research in fish nutrition), celebrado en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria del 3 al 7 de junio de 2018.Comunicacion oral presentada en la 6th European Conference on Cyclodextrins. Abstracts book pag. 14 (2019)Seminario: Arquitectura saadi. Marruecos siglos XVI-XVII. EEA, CSIC, LAAC (Granada), 12 y 13 de abril de 2018.Trabajo presentado a la 21st Topical Conference on High Temperature Plasma Diagnostics, celebrada en Madison, Wisconsin (US) del 5 al 9 de junio de 2016.3 paginas, 3 tablas.- Trabajo presentado al: XVIII Jornadas sobre Produccion Animal AIDA. Zaragoza, Espana, 7-8 mayo 2019.5 paginas.-- 3 figuras.-- 2 tabla.-- 8 referencias.-- Comunicacion presentadoa en el XIV Simposio Internacional Hispano-Portugues de Relaciones Hidricas en Plantas de la Sociedad Espanola y Portuguesa de Fisiologia Vegetal.“La fisiologia como valor anadido para la comercializacion”Trabajo presentado al 48th West European FishTechnologists Association Meeting (WEFTA), celebrado en Lisboa (Portugal) del 15 al 18 de octubre de 2018.Trabajo presentado en la 2nd European conference on Xylella fastidiosa (how research can support solutions), celebrada en Ajaccio el 29 y 30 de octubre de 2019.The synthesis of the 5-hydroxyproline derivatives 3a and 3b using cyclobutane serine analogs 1 and 2 as starting materials is reported. This process occurs with moderate cis/trans selectivity. A mechanism for this reaction is also proposed. Cyclobutane serine analog 1 was tested in tandem Michael and Wittig-like reactions, providing some evidence of the mechanism proposed.Trabajo realizado dentro del proyecto “El Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales entre 1939 y 1985: de la disgregacion a la reunificacion en su contexto nacional e internacional” (Ref. HAR2016-76125-P).Trabajo presentado en Aquaculture Europe 19 (Our future, growing from water), celebrado en Berlin del 7 al 10 de octubre de 2019.Resumen del trabajo presentado en el 19th International Symposium on Deep Seismic Profiling of the Continents and their Margins (SEISMIX 2020), celebrado del 15 al 19 de marzo de 2020 en AustraliaTrabajo presentado en la 12th International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ICPA), celebrada en Sacaramento (US) del 20 al 23 de julio de 2014.Resumen del poster presentado a la European Human Genetics Conference, celebrada en Barcelona (Espana) del 21 al 24 de mayo de 2016.-- et al.Resumen del poster presentado a la VIII Reunion Cientifica Anual del Centro de Investigacion Biomedica En Red de Enfermedades Raras, celebrada en San Lorenzo del Escorial (Madrid) los dias 12 y 13 de marzo de 2015.Poster presentado en la 34th Annual International Conference on Thermoelectrics (ICT) y en la 13th European Conference on Thermoelectrics(ECT), celebradas en Dresden del 28 de junio al 2 de julio de 2015.Poster presentado en la 6th European Conference on Cyclodextrins. Santiago de Compostela, Oclober 2-4, 2019Este trabalho foi desenvolvido no âmbito dos projetos Metalurgia Primitiva no Territorio Portugues – EARLYMETAL (PTDC/HIST-ARQ/110442/2008) e Espacos Naturais, Arquiteturas, Arte rupestre e Deposicoes na Pre-historia Recente da Fachada Ocidental do Centro e Norte Portugues: das Acoes aos Significados - ENARDAS (PTDC/HISARQ/112983/2009), financiado pelo Programa Operacional Tematico Factores de Competitividade (COMPETE) e comparticipados pelo Fundo Comunitario Europeu FEDER. Os autores agradecem a Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) as bolsas individuais (SFRH/ BD/65143/2009) e (SFRH/BPD/73245/2010) concedidas a Joao Fonte e Elin Figueiredo, respetivamente, e o apoio financeiro concedido ao CENIMAT/I3N atraves do Projecto Estrategico LA25/2013-2014 (PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2011); a Joe Horst os esclarecimentos gentilmente cedidos sobre as condicoes de achado; a empresa Metais Jaime Dias, S.A. e ao Dr. Normando Ramos a possibilidade do uso do equipamento de FRX portatil para o estudo preliminar da colecao metalica e a equipa do Museu D. Diogo de Sousa, em Braga, o tratamento e fotografia do conjunto.13 GLOSSARY OF RELEVANT TERMS 17RS received support from the Czech Ministry of Culture (project MK00002327201) and from the SYNTHESYS Programme (project ES-TAF-1249), financed by European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 “Capacities” Programme at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC).Poster presentado en el XII Congreso de los Grupos de Investigacion Enologica (GIENOL 2013, Nuevas perspectivas en investigacion vitivinicola), celebrado en Madrid del 18 al 21 de junio de 2013.Trabajo presentado al Delft Software Days, celebrado en Netherlands del 5 al 16 de noviembre de 2018.Trabajo presentado al Spanish JRU EGI-ENGAGE meeting celebrado en Madrid el 23 de febrero de 2015.The genetic analysis of dorsoventral patterning in Drosophila has identified a zinc-finger gene, snail, that is required for mesoderm formation. The cloning and nuclease protection analysis of a Xenopus homologue of this gene has suggested a possible role in the mesoderm of vertebrates. Here, we describe the cloning of a murine homologue of snail, Sna, and in situ hybridisation studies of its developmental expression. Sequence analysis reveals substantial conservation of the second to fifth zinc fingers, but not of the first zinc finger in the Sna gene. Expression occurs in the ectoplacental cone, parietal endoderm, embryonic and extraembryonic mesoderm, in neural crest and in condensing precartilage. Based on the timing and spatial restriction of expression in embryonic mesoderm, we suggest that Sna might be required for the early development of this tissue, as is the case for its Drosophila counterpart. In addition, we propose that Sna might have an analogous role in the development of neural crest. The expression in condensing precartilage indicates that this gene also has a later function in chondrogenesis.Este trabajo se centra en la sintesis de nuevos nanohibridos dador-aceptor (D/A) de politiofeno solubles en medios acuosos y en la elucidacion de la interaccion electronica entre las unidades D/A como en el funcionamiento de los nanohibridos en forma de peliculas delgadas en aplicaciones optoelectronicas. Utilizando tecnicas de auto-ensamblaje in-situ de politiofeno en presencia de diferentes nanomateriales como son el oxido de grafeno, puntos cuanticos de semiconductores o laminas de dicalcogenuros de metales de transicion se ha conseguido la formacion de complejos de transferencia de carga, solubles en agua y con superiores propiedades electronicas de relevancia para el desarrollo de dispositivos optoelectronicos basados en peliculas delgadas210 Pags.- Figs.- Fots.- Tabls. Tesis realizada en la Unidad de Suelos y Riegos (Unidad Asociada EEAD-CSIC). Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0),Este trabajo se ha realizado en el marco de ERAWATCH, una iniciativa conjunta de la Direccion General de Investigacion de la Comision Europea y el Instituto de Prospectiva Tecnologica (IPTS).La investigacion ha sido posible gracias a la financiacion del Proyecto 2091 de la Universidad Politecnica de Valencia y del Proyecto P08-SEJ-03981 de la Junta de Andalucia.Oral presentation given at the 16th European Microscopy Congress, held in Lyon (France) from August 28th to September 2nd, 2016.Trabajo presentado en la European Conference on Xylella 2017 (Finding answers to a global problem), celebrada en Palma de Mallorca del 13 al 15 de noviembre de 2017.Master 2° Annee Biologie, Ecologie, Evolution (M2 BEE). Universite de Poitiers. Faculte des Sciences Fondamentales et Appliquees.Santiago de Compostela, Facultade de Quimica,17-21 julio 2017. -- http://www.bienalrsef2017.com/bienalrsef17/The work is under the scope of the following projects: Cargo-ANTS: Cargo handling by Automated Next generation Transportation Systems for ports and terminals.Seminario: Arquitectura saadi. Marruecos siglos XVI-XVII. EEA, CSIC, LAAC (Granada), 12 y 13 de abril de 2018.Trabajo presentado en el LV Congreso Nacional de la Sociedad Espanola de Ceramica y Vidrio, celebrado en Sevilla (Espana), del 5 al 7 de octubre de 2016Poster presentado en el First Joint Meeting on Soil and Plant System Sciences (SPSS 2019) Natural and Human-induced Impacts on the Critical Zone and Food Production. Bari, Italy 23-26 September 2019Trabajo presentado en el V Workshop The cultivation of the Soles, celebrado en Faro (Portugal) del 5 al 7 de abril de 2011.Web tematica.-- Proposito: divulgativo.-- Estado del proyecto: actualizacion continua.-- Fecha de la consulta: 2018-01-08.Trabajo de investigacion desarrollado por el ingeniero Juan Antonio Moreno-Cid Mora para optar al grado de Doctor por la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.Trabajo presentado en la XXVI Reunion Bienal de Quimica Organica de la Real Sociedad Espanola de Quimica, celebrada en Punta Umbria, Huelva (Espana) del 14 al 17 de junio de 2016.Trabajo presentado en la European Conference on Xylella 2017 (Finding answers to a global problem), celebrada en Palma de Mallorca del 13 al 15 de noviembre de 2017.We introduce the logics E(G) for reasoning about probabilistic expectation over classes G of games with discrete polynomial payoff functions represented by finite-valued Lukasiewicz formulas and provide completeness and complexity results. In addition, we introduce a new class of games where players’ expected payoff functions are encoded by E(G)-formulas. In these games each player’s aim is to randomise her strategic choices in order to affect the other players’ expectations over an outcome as well as their own. We offer a logical and computational characterisation of this new class of games.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation-FEDER grants AGL2009-08339/AGR and AGL2015-71386-R.Trabajo presentadso en la Jornada de divulgacion y presentacion en Espana del Proyecto POnTE (Plagas que amenazan a los cultivos y los bosques de Europa. El caso de Xylella fastidiosa en el olivar), celebrada el 14 de diciembre de 2016 en Madrid.4 paginas.-- 1 figuras.-- 3 tablas.-- 3 referencias.-- Comunicacion presentada en el >VII Congresso Iberico das Ciencias do Solo (CICS 2016) y VI Congresso Nacional de Rega e Drenagem> que decorreu no Instituto Politecnico de Beja de 13 a 15 de Setembro de 2016.

Virus hazards from food, water and other contaminated environments

Abstract Numerous viruses of human or animal origin can spread in the environment and infect people via water and food, mostly through ingestion and occasionally through skin contact. These viruses are released into the environment by various routes including water run‐offs and aerosols. Furthermore, zoonotic viruses may infect humans exposed to contaminated surface waters. Foodstuffs of animal origin can be contaminated, and their consumption may cause human infection if the viruses are not inactivated during food processing. Molecular epidemiology and surveillance of environmental samples are necessary to elucidate the public health hazards associated with exposure to environmental viruses. Whereas monitoring of viral nucleic acids by PCR methods is relatively straightforward and well documented, detection of infectious virus particles is technically more demanding and not always possible (e.g. human norovirus or hepatitis E virus). The human pathogenic viruses that are most relevant in this context are nonenveloped and belong to the families of the C aliciviridae, A denoviridae, H epeviridae, P icornaviridae and R eoviridae. Sampling methods and strategies, first‐choice detection methods and evaluation criteria are reviewed.

The Prognostic Relevance of the Nonstructural 5A Gene Interferon Sensitivity Determining Region Is Different in Infections with Genotype 1b and 3a Isolates of Hepatitis C Virus

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA serum concentration, quasispecies complexity, and sequence and phylogenetic analysis of the nonstructural 5A gene (NS5A) interferon sensitivity determining region (ISDR) were determined in pretreatment serum samples from 47 patients with chronic hepatitis C (36 infected by HCV genotype 1b and 11 by 3a). Among HCV genotype 1b-infected patients, virus load was lower (P = .003) and the number of NS5A-ISDR amino acid changes was higher (P = .001) in long-term responders than in non-long-term responders, but there were no differences in quasispecies complexity. Multivariate analysis showed a close association between response to interferon and NS5A-ISDR phenotype. Phylogenetic analysis showed that isolates from non-long-term responders clustered apart from the majority of isolates from long-term responders. There was no association between virologic features and therapeutic response in HCV genotype 3a-infected patients. In conclusion, low virus load and mutant NS5A-ISDR phenotype are closely associated with long-term response to interferon in HCV genotype 1b- but probably not in 3a-infected patients.

Immunogenicity of non-structural proteins of foot-and-mouth disease virus: differences between infected and vaccinated swine

SummaryNon-structural as well as VP1 recombinant proteins of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) produced inE. coli, have been used to study the specific antibody response of infected or vaccinated swine. An analysis of sera from infected pigs, using a direct ELISA, showed that polypeptide 3ABC (spanning non-structural proteins 3A, 3B and 3C) was the most antigenic among the recombinant proteins studied and allowed specific detection of FMDV infected swine from the second week after the infection. The sensitivity of this assay was comparable to that obtained when the whole FMDV was used as ELISA antigen. Conversely, use of polypeptide 3ABC did not allow detection of significant levels of antibodies in sera from vaccinated animals. This differential pattern of ELISA reactivities offers a promising approach for the distinction of infected from vaccinated pigs. In addition, a highly specific and sensitive method of diagnosis for FMDV replication was achieved using an immunoblotting assay which detected antibodies against the 3ABC polypeptide.

West Nile virus replication requires fatty acid synthesis but is independent on phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate lipids.

West Nile virus (WNV) is a neurovirulent mosquito-borne flavivirus, which main natural hosts are birds but it also infects equines and humans, among other mammals. As in the case of other plus-stranded RNA viruses, WNV replication is associated to intracellular membrane rearrangements. Based on results obtained with a variety of viruses, different cellular processes have been shown to play important roles on these membrane rearrangements for efficient viral replication. As these processes are related to lipid metabolism, fatty acid synthesis, as well as generation of a specific lipid microenvironment enriched in phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PI4P), has been associated to it in other viral models. In this study, intracellular membrane rearrangements following infection with a highly neurovirulent strain of WNV were addressed by means of electron and confocal microscopy. Infection of WNV, and specifically viral RNA replication, were dependent on fatty acid synthesis, as revealed by the inhibitory effect of cerulenin and C75, two pharmacological inhibitors of fatty acid synthase, a key enzyme of this process. However, WNV infection did not induce redistribution of PI4P lipids, and PI4P did not localize at viral replication complex. Even more, WNV multiplication was not inhibited by the use of the phosphatidylinositol-4-kinase inhibitor PIK93, while infection by the enterovirus Coxsackievirus B5 was reduced. Similar features were found when infection by other flavivirus, the Usutu virus (USUV), was analyzed. These features of WNV replication could help to design specific antiviral approaches against WNV and other related flaviviruses.

Zika Virus: the Latest Newcomer

Since the beginning of this century, humanity has been facing a new emerging, or re-emerging, virus threat almost every year: West Nile, Influenza A, avian flu, dengue, Chikungunya, SARS, MERS, Ebola, and now Zika, the latest newcomer. Zika virus (ZIKV), a flavivirus transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, was identified in 1947 in a sentinel monkey in Uganda, and later on in humans in Nigeria. The virus was mainly confined to the African continent until it was detected in south-east Asia the 1980’s, then in the Micronesia in 2007 and, more recently in the Americas in 2014, where it has displayed an explosive spread, as advised by the World Health Organization, which resulted in the infection of hundreds of thousands of people. ZIKV infection was characterized by causing a mild disease presented with fever, headache, rash, arthralgia, and conjunctivitis, with exceptional reports of an association with Guillain–Barre syndrome (GBS) and microcephaly. However, since the end of 2015, an increase in the number of GBS associated cases and an astonishing number of microcephaly in fetus and new-borns in Brazil have been related to ZIKV infection, raising serious worldwide public health concerns. Clarifying such worrisome relationships is, thus, a current unavoidable goal. Here, we extensively review what is currently known about ZIKV, from molecular biology, transmission routes, ecology, and epidemiology, to clinical manifestations, pathogenesis, diagnosis, prophylaxis, and public health.

Survey of Bovine Enterovirus in Biological and Environmental Samples by a Highly Sensitive Real-Time Reverse Transcription-PCR

ABSTRACT Animal enteroviruses shed in the feces of infected animals are likely environmental contaminants and thus can be used as indicators of animal fecal pollution. Previous work has demonstrated that bovine enterovirus (BEV) present in bovine feces contaminates waters adjacent to cattle herds and that BEV-like sequences are also present in shellfish and in deer feces from the same geographical area. However, little information is available about the prevalence, molecular epidemiology, and genomic sequence variation of BEV field isolates. Here we describe an optimized highly sensitive real-time reverse transcription-PCR method to detect BEV RNA in biological and environmental samples. A combination of the amplification procedure with a previously described filtration step with electropositive filters allowed us to detect up to 12 BEV RNA molecules per ml of water. The feasibility of using the method to detect BEV in surface waters at a high risk of fecal pollution was confirmed after analysis of water samples obtained from different sources. The method was also used to study the prevalence of BEV in different cattle herds around Spain, and the results revealed that 78% (78 of 100) of the fecal samples were BEV positive. BEV-like sequences were also detected in feces from sheep, goats, and horses. Nucleotide sequence analyses showed that BEV isolates are quite heterogeneous and suggested the presence of species-specific BEV-like variants. Detection of BEV-like sequences may help in the differentiation and characterization of animal sources of contamination.

Genetic variability among group A and B respiratory syncytial viruses in Mozambique: identification of a new cluster of group B isolates.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major cause of acute lower respiratory tract infection in children and vulnerable adults, but little is known regarding RSV infection in Africa. In this report, a recent RSV outbreak in Mozambique was studied and results showed that 275 of 3192 (8.6%) nasopharyngeal aspirates tested were RSV-positive by ELISA. RSV presents two antigenic groups (A and B) with a high genetic and antigenic variability between and within them. Analysis by a new RFLP assay of RT-PCR amplified N protein gene products showed a higher prevalence of group B RSV than that of group A (85% versus 15%). However, genetic variability of the G protein gene was higher among group A RSV strains. The frequency and pattern of glycosylation sites were also quite different between both groups. In addition, two different phylogenetic clusters of Mozambican viruses were found within each group, but only sequences from cluster B-I were relatively distinct from previously described isolates. The implications of such differences in the antigenic and immunogenic characteristics of each group are discussed.

Evolution of hepatitis C virus quasispecies immediately following liver transplantation

Liver cirrhosis caused by chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the main indication for liver transplantation (LT). There is little information on HCV genetic evolution following transplantation. The aim of this study was to carefully assess early evolution of HCV quasispecies in a cohort of 18 liver transplant recipients followed prospectively. Quasispecies analysis was performed by sequence analysis of the hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) before transplantation and at day 4 and week 4 following LT. A predominant variant was present in 12 (67%) of the 18 patients before transplantation and the same variant was propagated and remained predominant after LT in 6 (50%) of these patients. In the remaining individuals, there were major changes in the quasispecies composition, mostly occurring during the first days after LT. There was a progressive decrease in the nonsynonymous (dN)/synonymous (dS) ratios from baseline (1.2) to day 4 (.6) (P = .08) and to week 4 after LT (.3) (P = .015). Similarly, genetic distance (GD) declined from baseline (.1) to day 4 (.03) (P = .07) and to week 4 (.04) (P = .04). We did not find any differences in HCV genetic evolution between patients with mild (n = 10) or severe (n = 8) disease recurrence. In conclusion, during the first days following transplantation, HCV quasispecies becomes more homogenous, even after major changes in its composition. Importantly, these changes persist and even increase during the 1st month after transplantation. The “bottleneck” effect caused by the implantation of a new graft and the lack of selective pressure due to the strong immunosuppression most likely explain this particular pattern of genetic evolution. (Liver Transpl 2004;10:1131–1139.)

Infection with a novel human DNA virus (TTV) has no pathogenic significance in patients with liver diseases

BACKGROUND/AIMS A recently identified DNA virus, termed TT virus (TTV), has been associated with post-transfusional hepatitis, and a high prevalence of TTV infection in patients with acute or chronic liver disease of unknown etiology has been reported from Japan, but few data are available about TTV infection in other countries. METHODS Using hemi-nested-PCR amplification to detect TTV-DNA sequences in serum, we investigated TTV infection in blood donors and in patients with liver diseases of varied etiology. RESULTS The prevalence of TTV infection was 13.7% in blood donors (23/168), 18.6% in chronic hepatitis C (19/102), 28.6% in chronic hepatitis B (16/56), 29.9% in hepatocellular carcinoma (20/67), 9.1% in cryptogenic chronic liver disease (2/22) and 39.6% in fulminant hepatitis (19/48). The prevalence of TTV infection in patients with virus-induced or idiopathic fulminant hepatitis was similar. Comparison of TTV-infected and non-infected patients did not reveal significant differences concerning demographic, epidemiological or histopathological features. In patients with hepatitis C, response to interferon therapy was not related to TTV infection. Phylogenetic analysis of TTV isolates showed that at least three different types of TTV are present in Spain. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that TTV infection is frequent among blood donors and patients with acute liver disease. However, pathogenic effects associated with TTV infection were not observed.