Epigenetic forest and flower morphogenesis.

This paper studies the epigenetic process that leads to Angiosperms' flower architecture (flowering plants). As a case study, we analyze the flower Arabidopsis thaliana's GRN obtained during cell fate determination in the early stages of the flower's development, which was constructed in a previous work using experimental data. We start by constructing and analyzing the Epigenetic Forest, a discrete representation of Waddington's Epigenetic Landscape, obtained as the transition graph of the discrete dynamical system associated with the GRN. Next, we propose an optimization problem to model morphogenesis by defining a biologically meaningful function that accounts for the work involved in cell specialization. Finally, the problem is solved using a genetic algorithm. The optimal solution found by the algorithm correctly recovers the flower's architecture, as observed in wild type flowers and recovered in other theoretical works. Even though the case study addresses this specific problem, the method is directly applicable to other GRN's with attractors consisting of equilibrium points only and could be extended to the situation where there are periodic attractors.

Meningioma en gestante afecta de endometriosis profunda. A propósito de un caso / Meningioma in pregnant women affected by deep endometriosis. About a case

RESUMEN El siguiente caso clínico trata de una paciente, gestante tras fecundación in vitro, afecta de endometriosis profunda. Dicha paciente debutó durante el embarazo con un síndrome del seno cavernoso con cefalea e hipoestesia facial, siendo diagnosticada tras una exploración neurológica detallada y las pruebas complementarias pertinentes de un meningioma. Por este motivo, tuvo que ser sometida a una cesárea previa al abordaje terapéutico del tumor, dado el empeoramiento clínico progresivo que se estaba produciendo. Dado que en la literatura científica la asociación entre la endometriosis y la aparición de meningiomas ya ha sido descrita, con este caso clínico intentaremos acercarnos a las posibles causas de dicha asociación, como podría ser el ambiente predominantemente estrogénico de las pacientes con endometriosis. De igual modo, abordaremos el manejo del meningioma tanto dentro como fuera del embarazo, sirviéndonos para ello de la bibliografía disponible.

ABSTRACT A pregnancy woman affected by deep endometriosis is presented in this clinical case. A cavernous sinus syndrome was diagnosed during her pregnancy. She started suffering from headache and facial hypoesthesia. After a detailed neurological examination and the relevant complementary tests the patient was diagnosed of a meningioma. Given the progressive clinical worsening that was taking place, she had to undergo a cesarean section prior to the therapeutic approach of the tumor. Through this clinical case we will try to approach the possible causes of the association between endometriosis and meningioma, such as the predominantly estrogenic environment of patients with endometriosis. Similarly, we will address the management of meningioma both inside and outside of pregnancy, using the related available literature.