Fibrosis is recognized as an important feature of many chronic diseases, such as systemic sclerosis (SSc), an autoimmune disease of unknown etiology, characterized by immune dysregulation and vascular injury, followed by progressive fibrosis affecting the skin and multiple internal organs. SSc has a poor prognosis because no therapy has been shown to reverse or arrest the progression of fibrosis, representing a major unmet medical need. Recently, antifibrotic effects of PPARγ ligands have been studied in vitro and in vivo and some theories have emerged leading to new insights. Aberrant PPARγ function seems to be implicated in pathological fibrosis in the skin and lungs. This antifibrotic effect is mainly related to the inhibition of TGF-β/Smad signal transduction but other pathways can be involved. This review focused on recent studies that identified PPARγ as an important novel pathway with critical roles in regulating connective tissue homeostasis, with emphasis on skin and lung fibrosis and its role on systemic sclerosis.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by alterations in cytokines produced by both Th1 and Th17 pathways. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum levels of pivotal cytokines and correlate them with clinical parameters. Serum samples from 53 psoriasis patients and 35 healthy volunteers, matched by the proportion of sex and age ratios, were collected for ELISA cytokine detection. Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) was assessed at the time of sampling in psoriasis patients. Our findings demonstrate that IL-17A, IL-22, and IL-6 serum concentrations were significantly higher in psoriasis patients than in the control group. No statistical correlation could be found between cytokines concentrations, PASI score, and age in this study. Although our results do not show any correlation between serum levels of IL-17A, IL-22, and IL-6 and disease activity, the present study confirms that they were increased in Brazilian psoriasis patients in comparison to healthy volunteers.

IL-18 is associated with inflammatory activity in gout, as well as with IL-6 levels, while IL-6 is associated with clinical and laboratory activity, the presence of tophi and articular deformities, and may be a prognostic marker of this pathology.

Resumen: Sentinel-2 (S2) es un nuevo satélite de la ESA que cuenta con 13 bandas proporcionando imágenes de alta calidad radiométrica y excelente resolución espacial (10 y 20 m) ideal para trabajos de clasificación. En este trabajo se han abordado dos objetivos: determinar el mejor método de clasificación con S2, y cuantificar su mejora respecto a otras misiones operativas, como SPOT. Para ello se han seleccionado cuatro clasificadores (LDA, RF, Árboles de decisión, K-NN) que se han aplicado en dos zonas agrarias: una en la huerta de Valencia (España) y otra en la región de Buenos Aires (Argentina). Se han probado todos los clasificadores usando, por una parte, todas las bandas de S2, y por otra usando sólo las cuatro que coinciden con SPOT. En todos los casos se han aplicando porcentajes entre el 10 y el 50% de datos de entrenamiento y usado el resto de datos como validación. Como resultado se ha generado un mapa de usos del suelo a partir del mejor clasificador, basándose en el índice Kappa, proporcionando información científicamente relevante como es el área ocupada por cada una de las clases.Palabras clave: clasificación, teledetección, usos del suelo, índice Kappa, Sentinel-2. Land use classification from Sentinel-2 imageryAbstract: Sentinel-2 (S2), a new ESA satellite for Earth observation, accounts with 13 bands which provide high-quality radiometric images with an excellent spatial resolution (10 and 20 m) ideal for classification purposes. In this paper, two objectives have been addressed: to determine the best classification method for S2, and to quantify its improvement with respect to the SPOT operational mission. To do so, four classifiers (LDA, RF, Decision Trees, K-NN) have been selected and applied to two different agricultural areas located in Valencia (Spain) and Buenos Aires (Argentina). All classifiers were tested using, on the one hand, all the S2 bands and, on the other hand, only selecting those bands from S2 closer to the four bands from SPOT. In all the cases, between 10%-50% of samples were used to train the classifier while remaining the rest for validation. As a result, a land use map was generated from the best classifier, according to the Kappa index, providing scientifically relevant information such as the area of each land use class.Keywords: classification, remote sensing, land use, Kappa Index, Sentinel-2.To cite this article: Borràs, J., Delegido, J., Pezzola, A., Pereira, M., Morassi, G., Camps-Valls, G. 2017. Land use classification from Sentinel-2 imagery. Revista de Teledetección, 48,[55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66]. https://doi.org/10.4995/raet.2017.7133 IntroducciónEl uso del suelo es un criterio socioeconómico que hace referencia a la actividad dominante que se da en un determinado lugar, e incluye usos como residencial, comercial, industrial, agrícola, etc., pudiendo estar estas categorías divididas en niveles más específicos. La cobertura del suelo es

Post-translational and co-translational enzymatic addition of glycans (glycosylation) to proteins, lipids, and other carbohydrates, is a powerful regulator of the molecular machinery involved in cell cycle, adhesion, invasion, and signal transduction, and is usually seen in both in vivo and in vitro cancer models. Glycosyltransferases can alter the glycosylation pattern of normal cells, subsequently leading to the establishment and progression of several diseases, including cancer. Furthermore, a growing amount of research has shown that different oxygen tensions, mainly hypoxia, leads to a markedly altered glycosylation, resulting in altered glycan-receptor interactions. Alteration of intracellular glucose metabolism, from aerobic cellular respiration to anaerobic glycolysis, inhibition of integrin 3α1β translocation to the plasma membrane, decreased 1,2-fucosylation of cell-surface glycans, and galectin overexpression are some consequences of the hypoxic tumor microenvironment. Additionally, increased expression of gangliosides carrying N-glycolyl sialic acid can also be significantly affected by hypoxia. For all these reasons, it is possible to realize that hypoxia strongly alters glycobiologic events within tumors, leading to changes in their behavior. This review aims to analyze the complexity and importance of glycoconjugates and their molecular interaction network in the hypoxic context of many solid tumors.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease frequently characterized by chronic synovitis of multiple joints. The pathogenesis of RA is complex and involves many proinflammatory cytokines as Th17 related ones. PPARγ is a nuclear receptor activator that represses proinflammatory gene expression. Thus, this work aimed to synthetize a new thiazolidinedione (TZD) analogue based on a well-known anti-inflammatory and PPARγ agonist activity of this ring and evaluate its anti-inflammatory activity. After chemical structure confirmation, the compound named 5-(5-bromo-2-methoxy-benzylidene)-3-(2-nitro-benzyl)-thiazolidine-2,4-dione TM17 was submitted to cytokine releasing inhibition and PPARγ genetic modulation assays. The new compound showed no toxicity on human and murine cells, decreasing IL-6 secretion by murine splenocytes and reducing IL-17A, IL-22, and IFN-γ expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with RA. TM17 was more efficient in modulating the mRNA expression of PPARγ than its well-used TZD agonist rosiglitazone. Surprisingly, TM17 was efficient on IL-17A and IFN-γ reduction, like the positive control methylprednisolone, and presented a better effect on IL-22 levels. In conclusion, PBMCs obtained from RA patients under TM17 treatment present a significant reduction in IL-17A, IL-22, and IFN-γ levels, but not IL-6 when compared with nontreated cells, as well as increase PPARγ mRNA expression in absence of stimulus addressing it as a promising molecule in RA treatment.

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We first showed raised IFN-λ1 levels in SSc patients. Furthermore, we found a correlation between IFN-λ1 and IFN-γ levels and an association between IFN-γ and myositis. Additional in vitro and in vivo studies are needed to understand IFN-λ1 role in SSc.