Priorities to reduce the burden of stroke in Latin American countries.

The large and increasing burden of stroke in Latin American countries, and the need to meet the UN and WHO requirements for reducing the burden from non-communicable disorders (including stroke), brought together stroke experts and representatives of the Ministries of Health of 13 Latin American countries for the 1st Latin American Stroke Ministerial meeting in Gramado, Brazil, to discuss the problem and identify ways of cooperating to reduce the burden of stroke in the region. Discussions were focused on the regional and country-specific activities associated with stroke prevention and treatment, including public stroke awareness, prevention strategies, delivery and organisation of care, clinical practice gaps, and unmet needs. The meeting culminated with the adoption of the special Gramado Declaration, signed by all Ministerial officials who attended the meeting. With agreed priorities for stroke prevention, treatment, and research, an opportunity now exists to translate this Declaration into an action plan to reduce the burden of stroke.

Heterozygous IGFALS gene variants in idiopathic short stature and normal children: impact on height and the IGF system.

BACKGROUND: In acid-labile subunit (ALS)-deficient families, heterozygous carriers of IGFALS gene mutations are frequently shorter than their wild-type relatives, suggesting that IGFALS haploinsufficiency could result in short stature. We have characterized IGFALS gene variants in idiopathic short stature (ISS) and in normal children, determining their impact on height and the IGF system. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In 188 normal and 79 ISS children levels of IGF-1, IGFBP-3, ALS, ternary complex formation (TCF) and IGFALS gene sequence were determined. RESULTS: In sum, 9 nonsynonymous or frameshift IGFALS variants (E35Gfs*17, G83S, L97F, R277H, P287L, A330D, R493H, A546V and R548W) were found in 10 ISS children and 6 variants (G170S, V239M, N276S, R277H, G506R and R548W) were found in 7 normal children. If ISS children were classified according to the ability for TCF enhanced by the addition of rhIGFBP-3 (TCF+), carriers of pathogenic IGFALS gene variants were shorter and presented lower levels of IGF-1, IGFBP-3 and ALS in comparison to carriers of benign variants. In ISS families, subjects carrying pathogenic variants were shorter and presented lower IGF-1, IGFBP-3 and ALS levels than noncarriers. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that heterozygous IGFALS gene variants could be responsible for short stature in a subset of ISS children with diminished levels of IGF-1, IGFBP-3 and ALS.

Flow cytometry counting of bronchoalveolar lavage leukocytes with a new profile of monoclonal antibodies combination.

BACKGROUND: Differential cell count in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) has an important role in the diagnosis of pulmonary diseases. Optical microscopy method is usually chosen to identify BAL leukocyte populations despite its technical limitations. As there are no guidelines to make this analysis by flow cytometry (FCM), we propose a new monoclonal antibodies combination for this analysis. METHODS: Thirty-four BAL samples were stained with the monoclonal antibodies combination CD15/CD16/CD45/HLA-DR and analyzed in a 2-laser cytometer (FACSCalibur). The results were compared with those obtained by optical microscopy. RESULTS: Both methods showed a good correlation, but FCM overestimates lymphocyte population and conversely underestimates alveolar macrophage population. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed monoclonal antibodies combination is effective and reliable to identify leukocyte populations in BAL.

Bond paths as privileged exchange channels.

Evidence that the bond paths of the quantum theory of atoms-in-molecules (QTAIM) signal preferred quantum-mechanical exchange channels is presented. We show how bond paths between an atom A and the atoms B in its environment appear to be determined by competition among the A-B exchange-correlation energies that always contribute to stabilize the A-B interactions. These pairwise additive stabilizations depend neither on the attractive or repulsive nature of the classical electrostatic interaction between the atoms' charge densities, nor on the change in the self energies of the atoms involved. These other terms may well cause an overall molecular-energy increase in spite of a possibly large A-B exchange-correlation stabilization. After our proposal, bond paths, both at and out of equilibrium geometries, are endowed with a specific energetic meaning that should contribute to reconcile the orthodox QTAIM interpretation with other widely accepted views, and to settle recent controversies questioning the meaning of hydrogen-hydrogen bonding and the nature of the so-called "steric interactions", the role of bond paths in endohedral complexes, and the generality of the results provided by the QTAIM. Implications for the nature of more general closed-shell interactions are also briefly discussed.

The fission yeast APC activator Ste9 is regulated by mRNA decay.

Fission yeast Ste9/Srw1 is a family member of the Fizzy-related APC activators that promote the ubiquitination and degradation of mitotic cyclins and other substrates at the end of mitosis and G1. These proteins are highly regulated during the cell cycle at the level of gene transcription and protein phosphorylation in order to guarantee the correct order of events during the cell cycle. Here we propose mRNA decay as a novel mechanism that regulates ste9+ gene expression during the cell cycle. We have characterized the elements in the 3'UTR of the ste9 mRNA responsible for this mechanism. Moreover, we demonstrate that the instability of ste9 mRNA is important for downregulating Ste9 levels in G2, allowing appropriate cyclin B accumulation to promote timely entry into mitosis.

Topological properties of the electron density of solids and molecules. Recent developments in Oviedo.

Some of the latest advances in the analysis of electron density are reviewed, including: (a) topological indices that provide a useful characterization of the global properties of the density; (b) specific results on some prototypical metal and low heteropolarity systems; and (c) calculation of the local curvature of the interatomic surface.

Chemical bonding in group III nitrides.

We analyze in this article the evolution of the chemical bonding in group III nitrides (MN, M = Al, Ga, In), from the N-N bond dominated small clusters to the M-N bond dominated crystals, with the aim of explaining how the strong multiple bond of N(2) is destabilized with the increase in coordination. The picture that emerges is that of a partially ionic bond in the solid state, which is also present in all the clusters. The covalent N-N bond, however, shows a gradual decrease of its strength due to the charge transfer from the metal atoms. Overall, Al clusters are more ionic than Ga and In clusters, and thus the N-N bond is weakest in them. The nitrogen atom charge is seen to be proportional to the metal coordination, being thus a bond-related property, and dependent on the M-N distance. This explains the behavior observed in previous investigations, and can be used as a guide in predicting the structures and defects on semiconductor quantum dot or thin film devices of these compounds.