An international team of researchers with the participation of Spanish scientists has sequenced the genes of melanoma. “This type of cancer, very aggressive and lethal, is closely related to sun exposure early in life,” warn the authors of the study.

The results of this research, published in the journal Nature, could help develop new therapeutic strategies. The team led by Levi Garraway, Medical Institute of Harvard and the Broad Institute of Technology (MIT), sequenced the complete genome of 25 samples of melanoma metastases.

This work shows that “the number of mutations in melanoma depends directly on how much they had in the sun individuals,” the researchers say. Patients who had a chronically exposed to UV had many more mutations than those without.

Additionally, this study has identified new genes that alterations were not known at this type of cancer, as PREX2, which is mutated in 14% of cases. “We still do not know exactly what role, but we know that is related to the accelerated progression of the tumor,” the authors write.

The experts concluded that “understanding the genetics of melanoma in all its depth is the key to developing new treatments we so desperately need”.

Researchers at the University of Granada have developed a web application that allows to evaluate the ecological status of the Spanish rivers as aquatic macroinvertebrates that live in them. Initially, the designed system includes all the Mediterranean watershed, although its leaders seek to increase its area of application to the rest of the country in future releases.

This application, called MEDPACS (Mediterranean Prediction And Classification System), follows on previous experience in other countries like the United Kingdom (through the project RIVPACS) or Australia (AUSRIVAS). It was born into a project called GUADALMED, involving 7 Universities with the aim of testing methodologies for studying the ecological status of the Mediterranean rivers that allow to implement the requirements of the Water Framework Directive.

Currently, the system allows, by simple mouse click at a particular point of the hydrographic network, predict the list of macroinvertebrate families that would live there if there was no alteration. Thus, by comparing the macroinvertebrate community that actually live and potentially could live down the degree of alteration.

For this, the system performs many calculations and evaluations (taking into account parameters such as how far it is from that point to the origin of the river, slope, or what geological materials are those in the upstream basin) that will allow, through predictive models provide a probabilistic output than it would expect to find there.

With all this, and automatically generate maps with the current status of ecological status and reports. The authors state that this service MEDPACS is a useful tool for those agencies under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (such as river basin districts, water agencies, etc …) and cooperating agencies or companies involved in the work of assessment of ecological status of surface water bodies.

Gathering information with the mobile

Besides this project, who have worked in recent years, researchers at the University of Granada have developed ACADARI application (Application Data Capture in rivers), a system for mobile phones and PDAs that enables data collection “in situ” in the rivers and subsequently knocked over spreadsheets and enter them in the application MEDPCS, avoiding the usual transcription errors.

The system allows the device to collect data through both the position (location via GPS), and physical-chemical (flow, temperature, pH, conductivity and oxygen from water) and the families of macroinvertebrates and macrophytes that inhabit the water.

MEDPACS The project has been conducted by the Research Group of Animal Biology and Ecology Aquatic lotic Media at the University of Granada through funding of various projects at national level, of an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and environment, and finally through a project of excellence of the Andalusian.

The study, published in the international journal PLoS Biology, has a significance “very significant” level of basic research, to describe for the first time the key role of the ganglioside-membrane molecules in HIV-virus penetration AIDS in the cells responsible for activating an immune response against the virus, dendritic cells, and disseminate in the body.

As explained by labor leader, Javier Martinez-Picado, “dendritic cells circulate throughout the body to capture microbes, fragment and the control center are immune to exterminate white blood cells to these invaders,” but in the AIDS case these cells are unable to divide the microbe and HIV remains inside without degradation.

Once this is carried to the lymph, as the center of the immune system leaves the AIDS virus is capable of full and exterminate the body’s defense cells, and now researchers have discovered the molecule that allows the AIDS virus to act as a ‘Trojan horse’ to invade dendritic cells to stay inside without being divided.

Stopping the spread of virus

In collaboration with the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia CSIC and the University of Heidelberg Germany, the research showed that “the disappearance of gangliosides completely inhibited the spread of the virus”, Martinez-Picado meaning, accompanied by the renowned researcher Bonaventura Clotet.

The Labour leader has found that “current antiretroviral therapies improve the quality of life but not cure, given that patients should continue taking medication for life. The cure is not because the virus continues to replicate in a body part”.

Therefore, the mechanism found has become a new front to tackle the infection, and perhaps aware that this is not the only reservoir for cure HIV, Martinez-Picado has predicted that a new family of drugs could be administered in combination with current antiretroviral cocktail.

The attempt to identify the gene or genes involved in the deletions of the long arm of human chromosome (6q), which are quite common in human T lymphoblastic lymphomas. For researchers surprisingly found that all human lymphomas that could be analyzed also showed epigenetic inactivation EPHA7, an EPHA member of ephrin receptors that channel activation of several oncogenic pathways, including the powerful via Ras/MAPK/ERK.

Researchers have described the results of “blunt”, as “indicate that this gene may be an important diagnostic marker,” and, therefore, advisable to use a new therapeutic strategy based on the administration of a truncated isoform of the protein EPHA7, already on the market.

Scientists study left the orthologous deletions of chromosome 4 that appear in this type of lymphoma induced in mice. Preliminary analyzes showed several candidate genes, but the gene EPHA7 among them being the presenting higher levels of inactivation, especially hypermethylation of their promoter regions, that is, by epigenetic changes that do not involve the modification of the sequence gene nucleotide bases.

On the other hand, have observed that inactivation of this gene has also been described in some hematological malignancies and several solid tumors, reinforcing its importance as a tumor suppressor gene. At work, led by Dr. Jose Fernandez Piqueras, has Contrado in collaboration with the group of Dr. Manel Esteller, of the Institute of IDIBELL Bellvitge Biomedical Research, and Dr. Pablo Fernandez Navarro, National Epidemiology Center, Institute of Health Carlos III and a member of CIBER in Epidemiology and Public Health CIBERESP.

Enterprise project management nowadays is a common feature for many companies. It started like a management practice for a single project within one company. However with the development of the technologies and subsequent implementation of these technologies in the process of functioning of every company, enterprise project management started to deal with more wide areas and today this practice involves the management of all the projects that company may run.

As the big companies start to work on manifold products and projects, they need a system that could be able to help containing all the internal flow of the information and make it easier for company’s employees to stay in touch with all the changes in this or that product. saas project management  serves as the one of the most widely used solutions for such occasions.

The essence of the saas project management is in giving multiple employees from various departments the access to the common database via specially designed client or via web browser. Such practice makes it easier to track the progress of the project on various stages of its development. Various departments could see the progress of each other and react to the information received. Besides, this option helps to distribute the internal resources of the company and to redirect them in order there are some problems in certain areas, while the other departments are moving ahead faster.

Saas project management, started as a IT innovation, nowadays evolved significantly and is widely used in various spheres of the contemporary business.

The orbit of the Moon around the Earth does not draw a perfect circle, but is elliptical, as happens to our planet from the Sun this implies that the Earth-Moon distance is not constant, varies over time. This weekend the moon will pass through the perigee, the point which is the shortest distance from Earth. On the night of May 5th we will have our full satellite phase (phase 96%) to ‘only’ 355,126 km, the shortest distance around 2012.

When the moon is at the point of perigee also coincides with full moon phase, often referred to as ‘superluna’, apparently because of their size larger than normal. The term should not lead to erroneous interpretations that suggested going to achieve a disproportionate size.

A naked eye is unable to differentiate a Moon at apogee (maximum distance from Earth) and another in perigee, but through a telescope itself can be seen a slight variation in size compared to other full moons.

Therefore, the apparent size of this full moon will be the biggest of 2012, but for purposes of an observer barely notice the difference. As an example, the next full moon on June 4 will be one to 359,613 km from Earth.

That day its apparent diameter will be only a 1.0115% smaller than that which we admire, if weather conditions do not prevent-the night of 5 May. In terms of area, the interval is only a 1.0231%.

ESA has announced this week that its next major scientific mission will aim to study the icy moons of Jupiter. The Jupiter Icy moons Explorer (JUICE), will be launched in 2022 aboard an Ariane 5. The ship will depart from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, and arrive at Jupiter in 2030, where it will stay a minimum of three years making observations in the Jovian system.

The diversity of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, Io’s volcanism of the fort to the icy surface of Europa, Ganymede and Callisto through, rock and ice – make this system a small solar system in miniature. Scientists think they may have subsurface ocean of Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, so JUICE examine the ability of these three moons to support life, trying two of the main agenda items Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 ESA’s: what are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life, and how the solar system.

JUICE continuously observe the atmosphere and the magnetosphere of Jupiter, and study the interaction with its moons. The probe visited Callisto, the most heavily cratered body in the solar system and fly over the moon Europa twice, first by measuring the thickness of the ice sheet that covers it, and analyze potential landing sites for future exploration missions in situ.

Then JUICE enter orbit Ganymede in 2032, will examine where the ice on its surface, the internal structure of the moon, and in particular underground ocean. This is the only moon in the solar system with its own magnetic field, so it will examine how the field interacts with the plasma and the gas giant’s magnetosphere.

“Jupiter is the archetype of giant planets in our solar system, and much of the giant planets found orbiting other stars,” says Alvaro Gimenez, Director of Science and Robotic Exploration ESA. “Juice will help us better understand how they formed the gas giants and their moons, as well as its ability to support life.”

The self-replicating genetic structure of cells, containing genes, which determines inheritance of traits. Chemically, each chromosome is composed of proteins and a long molecule of DNA.
A genetic replica of an organism created without sexual reproduction. Fertilization of a plant with pollen from another plant. Pollen may be transferred by wind, insects, other organisms, or humans. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid): The chemical substance from which genes are made. DNA is a long, double-stranded helical molecule made up of nucleotides which are themselves composed of sugars, phosphates, and derivatives of the four bases adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T).
The sequence order of the four bases in the DNA strands determines the genetic information contained. Technique using antibodies for detecting specific proteins. Used to test for the presence of a particular genetically engineered organism.
The result of the activity of a gene or genes which influence the biochemistry and physiology of an organism and may change its outward appearance.
The movement of genes from one individual or population to another genetically compatible individual or population.

Presented in the journal Nutrition and Food Sciences, the study was partly funded by the project PLANTLIBRA (“Plant food supplements levels of intake, benefits and risk assessment”), which is supported with nearly 6 million under the theme ” Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology ‘(KBBE) of the Seventh Programme (FP7) EU.

Medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy.

In their latest study, researchers from the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands and the University of Milan in Italy have found that levels of these compounds in many herbal food supplements are so low as not to arouse concern. However, there are currently on the shelves some herbal food supplements that contain alkylbenzenes at levels comparable to those that increase the incidence of cancer in experimental tests.

The EU has also banned the use of alkylbenzenes estragole, methyleugenol, safrole or beta-asarone as a flavoring in foods, but have not yet been placed limitations on the presence of alkylbenzenes in herbal food supplements.

The team examined a number of herbal food supplements containing basil, fennel, nutmeg, sassafras, cinnamon quill, or their essential oils as the main ingredient. According to them, some of these products contain relatively high levels of alkylbenzenes.

They suggest that the use of these herbal supplements may have effects on human health, adding that it is important that actions are implemented to manage risk.

Enhanced lifestyle due to the technology development has attributed machine assisted life that reduces calorie burning through muscular efficiency Obesity is most commonly.

The convergence of nanotechnology and biomedical sciences opens a wide variety of biological research topics and medical uses at the molecular and cellular level. The long-term goal of NanoBiotechnology is to contribute to the information transfer and to the explosive growth of this important research area.

The life biomolecules such as DNA and protein are interacting with each other to maintain their life activity. Biomolecules form DNA–protein complexes as a result, the life forms can adjust to the external environment and continue its life activities. Therefore, using these characteristics of the DNA recognition ability of proteins.

Polypeptide chain integrated host factor 2 (scIHF2), which is a DNA binding and bending protein the specific domains of DNA. Using this protein and designing the sequences of DNA, mechanical-functionalized DNA-based biomolecular.

Here we are show the application of DNA binding and bending protein for design of the DNA actuator and its practical realization.