Macrophages in endocrine glands, with emphasis on pancreatic islets

ABSTRACT We review here the macrophages found in endocrine tissues, placing emphasis on those residing in the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas. The islets represent the endocrine organ where macrophages have been examined in great detail and where our own studies and experience have been directed.</jats:p

Bilateral Asymmetries Assessment in Elite and Sub-Elite Male Futsal Players

This study aimed to investigate morphological, functional, and neuromuscular asymmetries on futsal players’ lower limbs at different competitive levels. Sixteen male elite futsal players from the Spanish National Futsal League and thirteen male sub-elite futsal players from the third division participated in this study. Morphological asymmetry was assessed through bioelectrical impedance (fat-mass (g and %) and lean-mass (g)). Functional asymmetry was assessed by means of a 20-s static unipedal balance test. Finally, neuromuscular asymmetry was assessed using tensiomiography tests on both the rectus femoris (RF) and biceps femoris (BF) of each participant. The three tests conducted did not reveal significant bilateral asymmetries in elite players. On the other hand, sub-elite players showed significant bilateral asymmetry in fat-mass percentage between dominant and non-dominant limbs (+6%; CI95%: 1 to 11; ES: 0.88; p = 0.019). They also showed higher bilateral asymmetry in the delay time of the RF (+13%; CI95%: 7 to 21; ES: 1.3; p 0.05) did not evidence asymmetries regardless of the level of the participants. Elite futsal players do not develop bilateral asymmetries in lower limbs in the studied parameters. On the contrary, sub-elite players are likely to develop morphological and neuromuscular asymmetries between their dominant leg and non-dominant leg.Sin financiación3.390 JCR (2020) Q1, 42/176 Public, Environmental & Occupational Health0.747 SJR (2020) Q2, 50/136 Health, Toxicology and MutagenesisNo data IDR 2020UE

Euskal itzulpengintza gaur: argitaletxeen funtzioa euskarazko literatur itzulpenetan

Izenburuak iradokitzen duen bezala, argitaletxeek euskarazko literatur itzulpenean betetzen duten funtzioa izango dugu lan honetan aztergai. Argi utzi nahi genuke hasieratik gure helburua ez dela izango literatur itzulpenen ezaugarri linguistikoak aztertzea, baizik egiten diren literatur itzulpenetan, argitaletxeek zer nolako eragina duten ikusi eta itzulpen horiek zer nolako testuingurutan egiten diren ikertzea, horretarako elkarrizketa bidezko metodologia erabiliz. Hasteko, lan honen lehen atalean, euskarazko itzulpenak argitaratzen dituzten argitaletxeen katalogo bat prestatzen hasi gara, argitaletxe horietako bakoitzaren ezaugarri aipagarrienak nabarmenduz. Lan honen ezaugarriak kontuan hartuz, jakitun gara katalogo horrek oraindik ere hutsuneak dituela eta ez dituela gaur egun euskarazko literatur itzulpenak argitaratzen dituzten argitaletxe guztiak biltzen, baina ahalegindu gara ahal den neurrian argitaletxeek gaur egungo euskarazko literatur itzulpenetan duten zeresanaren inguruko panorama orokor bat eskaintzen: zein diren euskarazko literatur itzulpenak argitaratzen dituzten argitaletxeak, sormen-lanen aldean itzulpenek zer nolako pisua duten argitaletxe horietan, euskarazko itzulpenek zenbateko pisua duten beste hizkuntzetara egindako itzulpenen aldean, zein hizkuntzatatik itzultzen den nagusiki euskarara, zein generotako lanak izaten diren eta lan horiek jatorrizko hizkuntzetatik edo zubi-hizkuntzak erabiliz itzultzen ote diren. Behin euskarazko literatur itzulpenaren ikuspegi hori ulertuta, literatur itzulpen horiek zein testuingurutan egiten diren jakin nahi izan dugu, eta horretarako, itzulgaiak eta itzultzaileak nola aukeratzen diren aztertzeaz gain, itzultzaileek zein baldintzatan lan egiten duten ezagutu nahi izan dugu. Jarraian, itzulpenari eta itzultzaileari ematen zaion ikusgarritasunari erreparatu diogu, liburuen elementu paratestualetan arreta jarriz. Zehazki hiru izan dira aztertutako alderdiak: hasteko, itzulpen-lanetan itzultzailearen aipamenik eta bestelako daturik txertatzen den aztertu dugu; bigarrenik, jatorrizko lanaren izenbururik aipatzen den jakin nahi izan dugu; eta azkenik, zubi-hizkuntzak erabiltzen diren kasuetan horren berri ematen den argitu nahi izan dugu. Lanaren azken atalean, itzulpenen salmentaren inguruko informazioa bildu dugu, euskarazko literatur itzulpenek merkatuan zer nolako pisua duten ezagutzeko asmotan. Behin elkarrizketetatik ateratako ondorioak plazaratuta, azken ondorio batzuk atera ditugu, lanean zehar aipatutako ondorio aipagarrienak laburbilduz eta etorkizunera begira, euskarazko literatur itzulpenari mesede egingo lioketen proposamenak aurkeztuz. Lanari amaiera emateko, kontsultatutako iturri bibliografikoen zerrenda eta elkarrizketetan erabilitako galdetegia aurkezten dira

A comparison of approaches to semi-supervised multiclass SVM for Web page classification

En este artículo se realiza un estudio de diferentes aproximaciones a la clasificación semisupervisada multiclase de páginas web mediante SVM. Ante la naturaleza binaria y supervisada de los algoritmos SVM clásicos, y tratando de evitar problemas de optimización complejos, se propone un enfoque basado en la combinación de clasificadores, tanto binarios semisupervisados como clasificadores multiclase supervisados. Los resultados de los experimentos realizados sobre tres colecciones de referencia muestran un rendimiento notablemente superior para la combinación de clasificadores multiclase supervisados. Por otro lado, en este trabajo también se realiza un estudio sobre la aportación de los documentos no etiquetados en la fase de aprendizaje para este tipo de entornos. En nuestro caso, y a diferencia de los problemas binarios, se obtiene una mayor efectividad cuando se ignora este tipo de datos para problemas multiclase.In this paper we present a study on semi-supervised multiclass web page classification using SVM. Due to the binary and supervised nature of the classical SVM algorithms, and trying to avoid complex optimization problems, we propose an approach based on the combination of classifiers, not only binary semi-supervised classifiers but also multiclass supervised ones. The results of our experiments over three benchmark datasets show noticeably higher performance for the combination of multiclass supervised classifiers. On the other hand, we analyze the contribution of unlabeled documents during the learning process for these environments. In our case, and unlike for binary tasks, we get higher effectiveness for multiclass tasks when no unlabeled documents are taken into account

Pancreatic islets communicate with lymphoid tissues via exocytosis of insulin peptides.

Tissue-specific autoimmunity occurs when selected antigens presented by susceptible alleles of the major histocompatibility complex are recognized by T cells. However, the reason why certain specific self-antigens dominate the response and are indispensable for triggering autoreactivity is unclear. Spontaneous presentation of insulin is essential for initiating autoimmune type 1 diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice1,2. A major set of pathogenic CD4 T cells specifically recognizes the 12-20 segment of the insulin B-chain (B:12-20), an epitope that is generated from direct presentation of insulin peptides by antigen-presenting cells3,4. These T cells do not respond to antigen-presenting cells that have taken up insulin that, after processing, leads to presentation of a different segment representing a one-residue shift, B:13-214. CD4 T cells that recognize B:12-20 escape negative selection in the thymus and cause diabetes, whereas those that recognize B:13-21 have only a minor role in autoimmunity3-5. Although presentation of B:12-20 is evident in the islets3,6, insulin-specific germinal centres can be formed in various lymphoid tissues, suggesting that insulin presentation is widespread7,8. Here we use live imaging to document the distribution of insulin recognition by CD4 T cells throughout various lymph nodes. Furthermore, we identify catabolized insulin peptide fragments containing defined pathogenic epitopes in β-cell granules from mice and humans. Upon glucose challenge, these fragments are released into the circulation and are recognized by CD4 T cells, leading to an activation state that results in transcriptional reprogramming and enhanced diabetogenicity. Therefore, a tissue such as pancreatic islets, by releasing catabolized products, imposes a constant threat to self-tolerance. These findings reveal a self-recognition pathway underlying a primary autoantigen and provide a foundation for assessing antigenic targets that precipitate pathogenic outcomes by systemically sensitizing lymphoid tissues

Influence of age of aggregates and prokaryotic abundance on glucose and leucine uptake by heterotrophic marine prokaryotes

The kinetics of glucose and leucine uptake in attached and free-living prokaryotes in two types of microcosms with different nutrient qualities were compared. Microcosm type M1, derived from unaltered seawater, and microcosm type M2, from phytoplankton cultures, clearly expressed different kinetic parameters (Vmax/cell and K´m). In aggregates with low cell densities (M1 microcosm), the attached prokaryotes benefited from attachment as reflected in the higher potential uptake rates, while in aggregates with high cell densities (M2 microcosm) differences in the potential uptake rates of attached and free-living prokaryotes were not evident. The aging process and the chemical changes in aggregates of M2 microcosms were followed for 15–20 days. The results showed that as the aggregates aged and prokaryotic abundance increased, attached prokaryotes decreased their potential uptake rate and their K´m for substrate. This suggests an adaptive response by attached prokaryotes when aggregates undergo quantitative and qualitative impoverishment. [Int Microbiol 2007; 10(1):13-18

Processing of proteins in autophagy vesicles of antigen-presenting cells generates citrullinated peptides recognized by the immune system

Our laboratory has been investigating for some time the nature of the response of T lymphocytes in autoimmunity in the reactions against self-proteins that result in a number of diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and others. T cells recognize peptides generated from proteins that are processed by antigen-presenting cells (APC). The peptides may derive from exogenous proteins or from the normal catabolism of self-proteins. The peptides complexed to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules constitute the chemical entity that is engaged by the antigen-receptor of T cells. An important hypothesis postulates that self-peptides that suffer post-translational modifications in the APC may form neo-antigens that are recognized by the immune system and form the target of autoimmunity. Our interest in citrullination in the context of antigen processing and presentation stemmed from studies suggesting that an immune response to citrullinated self-peptides may be involved in autoimmunity. In a first publication, we found T cells that specifically recognized citrullinated peptides after immunization of inbred mice with standard foreign proteins. We used the small protein hen-egg white lysozyme. These T cells only recognized the citrullinated peptide and not the unmodified one, thus proving that a neo-epitope had been created by this modification. But how this modification took place was not known. Our recent report describes a central role for autophagy in citrullination of peptides by APC

¿Es viable el fútbol de élite sobre césped artificial? El caso FIFA Women World Cup™

El objetivo de esta investigación es comparar variables de juego en césped natural y césped artificial en el alto rendimiento deportivo para comprobar en qué medida afecta al rendimiento deportivo y de gestión de la instalación. Se analizaron 283 jugadoras que participaron en las Copas Mundiales Femeninas de la FIFA de 2011 (césped natural) y 483 en la de 2015 (césped artificial). Para este estudio se tomaron como referencia variables relacionadas con los pases, toques, regates y entradas. Se utilizó la U de Mann-Whitney para contrastar las diferencias entre ambos torneos. Los resultados obtenidos en este estudio demuestran que el porcentaje de éxito respecto al total de acciones de rendimiento técnico es mejor en césped artificial (Mundial 2015) en gran parte de las variables estudiadas (salvo en regates), tanto totales como por posiciones.The aim of this research is to compare the game play variables in artificial turf vs. natural turf at high performance level and to assess in which manner it affects to the sport performance and the management of the facility. We analyzed 283 women players who participated in the FIFA® World Championship of 2011 (natural grass) and 483 women players of 2015 (artificial turf). Variables measured were passes, touches, dribbles, and tackles. We used U of Mann-Whitney test to evaluate the differences between two tournaments. Results showed that the success percentage of all game play actions is higher in artificial turf (World Championship 2015) in most of variables analyzed (except dribbles), in total and depending on player position

Uso de Información de Geolocalización, Usuario y Temporal para la Monitorización de Desastres Naturales en Twitter

During emergency situation events it is important to acquire as much information about the event as possible, and social media sites like Twitter offer important real-time user contributed data. Typical Information Filtering techniques are keyword-based approaches or focused on co-occurrence with keywords. However, these approaches can miss relevant local information if messages do not contain an initially considered event-related keyword. Considering geolocation, user and temporal information within a pseudo-relevance feedback approach we can find event-related terminology but not co-occurring with initially considered keywords. Thus, taking into account the temporal aspect we can modify a query expansion function like Kullback-Leibler divergence in order to improve the Information Filtering process. Our proposed approaches have been evaluated in two Twitter datasets associated with real-world events, obtaining encouraging results.Cuando se producen eventos relacionados con situaciones de emergencia, es importante acceder a tanta información como sea posible relacionada con dicho evento. En este contexto algunas redes sociales como Twitter suponen un importante recurso de información en tiempo real. La técnicas clásicas de filtrado de información suelen centrarse en el análisis de coocurrencia de términos con el conjunto de palabras clave inicialmente consideradas. Sin embargo, estas aproximaciones pueden perder información, ya que no son capaces de recuperar información relevante que venga expresada con palabras que no coocurran con las palabras clave inicialmente usadas, y que expresan nuestra necesidad de información. Considerar información de geolocalización, usuario o temporal dentro de un enfoque de pseudo-relevance feedback, nos permite encontrar terminología relacionada con el evento, pero no coocurrente con las palabras clave inicialmente consideradas. Por otro lado, considerando el aspecto temporal se puede modificar una función de expansión de consultas como la divergencia de Kullback-Leibler con el fin de mejorar el filtrado de información en estas situaciones de emergencia. Nuestras propuestas se han evaluado en dos colecciones de eventos del mundo real obteniéndose resultados alentadores.This work has been part-funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MED-RECORD Project, TIN2013-46616-C2-2-R) and by UNED Project (2012V/PUNED/0004). This research was also partially supported by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory under Cooperative Agreement No. W911NF-09-2-0053 (NS-CTA)