Phenotypic diversity and relationships of fruit quality traits in peach and nectarine [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] breeding progenies

The definitive version is available at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/102881/Agronomic and fruit quality traits were evaluated and compared for three consecutive years on 1,111 seedlings coming from 15 peach and nectarine breeding crosses, grown under a Mediterranean climate. Significant differences among and within the different progenies were found for most of the traits analyzed. The breeding population segregated for several Mendelian characters such as peach or nectarine fruit, round or flat fruit, yellow or white flesh and freestone or clingstone. In addition, aborting fruit and flat fruit trees were found in our progeny, and our data seem to support multi-allelic control of both flat shape and aborting fruit. The variation within the progenies of some traits such as blooming and harvesting date, yield, fruit weight and SSC was continuous, suggesting a polygenic inheritance. Relationships between qualitative pomological traits and these agronomic and fruit quality parameters were also found. Valuable correlations among agronomic and fruit quality parameters were found, although coefficients of variation depending on the progeny should be considered. In addition, principal component analysis (PCA) revealed several relationships among quality traits in the evaluated progenies. Based on this evaluation, 26 outstanding genotypes were pre-selected from the initial breeding population for further studies.This study was supported by the Spanish MICINN (Ministry of Science and Innovation) grants AGL-2005-05533 and AGL-2008-00283, and the Regional Government of Aragón (A44). C.M. Cantín was supported by a FPU fellowship from Spanish MICINN.Peer reviewe

“Education Network” a new way to teach Chemistry

The complexity of chemistry has implications for the teaching of chemistry. That chemistry is a very complex subject. The majority of the students at University think that chemistry is a difficult discipline and they have difficulty in understanding the concepts. Moreover, students' interest in chemistry decreases the first year at university. The reason for this decrease might be that the contents of chemistry laboratory classes are boring, out of date and lacking of dynamism that students experience through visual media tools. For these reasons, new programs and methodologies should be developed. Those are based on making chemistry relevant through problem solving and collaborative learning hold promise for reforming chemistry education. It is about an education according to circumstances, which is adapted to context and virtual behaviour of people. It's time to CRUSH boredom by transforming your classroom into an Escape Room adventure. School-based escape games are a great teaching tool. The students while playing, learn. The most important point is that they won’t realize they’re doing both at the same time. In this work, an educational gamification experience based on the escape room concept was developed. The first (Do It Yourself) DIY Escape Room was built the year before at Mechanical Engineer Degree started, that took more than three weeks of work. It was presented to other professors to the same subject at different degrees. That DIY Escape Room was modified and adapted to each group. Each professor changed the clues, problems and so on in order to orientate the topic as much as possible to their students.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Non-specific inhibition of dipeptidyl peptidases 8/9 by dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors negatively affects mesenchymal stem cell differentiation

DPP4 may play a relevant role in MSC differentiation into osteoblasts or adipocytes. Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitors (DPP4i), such as sitagliptin and vildagliptin, are used as antidiabetic drugs. However, vildagliptin is not a specific DPP4i and also inhibits DPP8/9, which is involved in energy metabolism and immune regulation. The aim of this study is to evaluate how sitagliptin, vildagliptin or 1G244 (a DPP8/9 specific inhibitor) may influence cell viability, as well as osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation in human mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). Viability, apoptosis, osteoblastogenesis and adipogenesis markers, as well as protein synthesis of β-catenin, were studied in MSC cultures induced to differentiate into osteoblasts or adipocytes in the presence or absence of sitagliptin, vildagliptin or 1G244. The two tested DPP4i did not affect MSC viability, but 1G244 significantly decreased it in MSC and osteoblast-induced cells. Additionally, 1G244 and vildagliptin inhibited osteogenesis and adipogenesis, unlike sitagliptin. Therefore, inhibition of DPP4 did not affect MSC viability and differentiation, whereas inhibition of DPP8/9 negatively affected MSC. To the best of our knowledge, these results show for the first time that DPP8/9 have an important role in the viability and differentiation of human MSC. This data can be considered for human clinical use of drugs affecting DPP8/9 activity

Pursuing precision in medicine and nutrition: the rise of electrochemical biosensing at the molecular level

In the era that we seek personalization in material things, it is becoming increasingly clear that the individualized management of medicine and nutrition plays a key role in life expectancy and quality of life, allowing participation to some extent in our welfare and the use of societal resources in a rationale and equitable way. The implementation of precision medicine and nutrition are highly complex challenges which depend on the development of new technologies able to meet important requirements in terms of cost, simplicity, and versatility, and to determine both individually and simultaneously, almost in real time and with the required sensitivity and reliability, molecular markers of different omics levels in biofluids extracted, secreted (either naturally or stimulated), or circulating in the body. Relying on representative and pioneering examples, this review article critically discusses recent advances driving the position of electrochemical bioplatforms as one of the winning horses for the implementation of suitable tools for advanced diagnostics, therapy, and precision nutrition. In addition to a critical overview of the state of the art, including groundbreaking applications and challenges ahead, the article concludes with a personal vision of the imminent roadmap.The financial support of PID2019-103899RBI00 (Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación), and PMP22/00084, PI17CIII/00045, PI20CIII/00019 and PI22/00727 (AES-ISCIII) cofounded with FEDER funds Research Projects and the TRANSNANOAVANSENS-CM Program from the Comunidad de Madrid (Grant S2018/NMT-4349) are gratefully acknowledged. Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.S

Future journalists’ fight against disinformation: analysis of university training offers and challenges in the Spanish context

Disinformation has become a global problem affecting mass media, governments and citizens globally. Besides the loss of trust in the media and its weakening influence, exposure to all manner of messages on social media in recent years has paved the way for disinformation, which has become a considerable challenge for journalism. According to the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer, Spain is one of the countries most concerned about this phenomenon (Edelman, 2022). However, is this concern shared by Spanish journalist associations? What training initiatives are being carried out for future journalists to counter the spread of disinformation? How should fact-checking be taught in university? This study aims to answer these questions by using a dual methodology. First, a review and analysis were undertaken on the different training initiatives for bachelor’s and university-specific master’s degree students. Then, 15 in-depth interviews were conducted with experts, including fact-checkers, experienced journalists and representatives of sectoral associations, to ascertain their views on fact-checking and disinformation. The main results show that Spanish universities offer few training fact-checking-related initiatives, particularly at bachelor’s degree level, although more and more university-specific degrees and master’s degrees on this topic are becoming available. Furthermore, most interviewees view specialised training for the next generation of journalists as a key factor for fighting disinformation, and they provide guidelines to achieve this

Phenotypic diversity among local Spanish and foreign peach and nectarine [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] accessions

17 Pags., 7 Tabls., 1 Fig. The definitive version is available at: http://link.springer.com/journal/10681Phenotypic data for tree and fruit characteristics was collected over three consecutive years from a germplasm collection of 94 peach and nectarine accessions representing both traditional Spanish as well as foreign cultivars with widespread global plantings. All accessions were grown at the Experimental Station of Aula Dei located in the Ebro Valley (Northern Spain, Zaragoza) under a Mediterranean climate. Tree traits evaluated included bloom and harvest date, vigor, yield, yield efficiency and flower and leaf characteristics. Fruit traits included fresh weight, firmness, soluble solids, titratable acidity, levels of individual soluble sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose and sorbitol), vitamin C, total phenolics, flavonoids, anthocyanins, relative antioxidant capacity and ripening index. Extensive variability was observed for most qualitative and quantitative traits with significant correlations identified between many traits. While the traditional Spanish accessions demonstrated good adaptability to the northern Spain evaluation site, opportunities for continued improvement in tree and fruit quality traits were demonstrated by an extensive phenotypic variability within the germplasm collection.This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) grants AGL2005-05533, AGL2008-00283 and AGL2011-24576, and RFP 2009-00016 cofunded by FEDER and the Regional Government of Aragon (A44). C. Font was supported by a JAE fellowship from Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC).Peer reviewe

‘Engagement’ y redes sociales. Análisis bibliométrico desde el ámbito científico de las relaciones públicas.

Uno de los aspectos de mayor influen­cia de las redes sociales es el engage­ment de los stakeholders, mediante el cual una empresa puede conversar con sus grupos de interés. El objetivo del presente trabajo es realizar un análisis bibliométrico que permita identificar la importancia y la evolución del enga­gement en redes sociales en el ámbito de las empresas dentro de la literatura especializada en relaciones públicas y gestión de comunicación. Un análisis de contenido cuantitativo bibliométrico nos ha permitido evaluar la actividad y la producción científica de las publicaciones que aparecen en las revistas académicas con mejor posición en JCR y Scopus en el ámbito de gestión de las relaciones públicas en el período comprendido entre 2010 y 2017. Para el análisis se han incluido indicadores de producción, dispersión, colaboración, li­teratura científica, rigurosidad empírica y asociaciones temáticas. Los resultados evidencian un crecimien­to gradual durante los años de estudio de la productividad científica sobre la temática objeto de este estudio, de acuerdo con los indicadores de disper­sión. Se han detectado diez categorías temáticas principales y algunas tenden­cias en cuanto a la autoría y el uso de referencias. Tras analizar todos los datos queda patente la importancia que adquiere el engagement en redes sociales en el ámbito de las relaciones públicas. Es especialmente notable el número de artículos referentes al análisis de la res­ponsabilidad social corporativa (RSC), la comunicación de crisis, la legitimidad o la reputación, debido al creciente inte­rés que tienen las empresas en mejorar y profundizar en la relación que mantie­nen con sus públicos.post-print1284 K