Plasticity of Dendritic Spines. Not Only for Cognitive Processes

Excitatory synaptic transmission is associated with the input of “new” information at synaptic junctions established by dendritic spines. The role that each type of spine plays in the transmission of the synaptic impulses is different. Indeed, there is a close relationship between the shape of spines and the differential processing of the excitatory synaptic information that is relayed to them, influencing in turn the transmission of synaptic information related to several psychoneural processes

Semantic Geodemography and Urban Interoperability

Nowadays there exists an increasing interest on the use of the information collected by cities coming from different resources as data with dynamic nature like the one provided by sensor networks, as static data associated to the socio-technical system that the city performs. As well as the Semantic Sensor Web allows the standardization of data, it is essential to give an appropriate dealing to geo-demographic data. In this paper, an approach to the semantization of the geo-demographic information is presented, with the aim of achieving interoperability within other systems of the geospatial cyberinfrastructure. Furthermore, fundamental aspects of the creation of ontologies by starting from socio-demographical systems are discussed and the process is illustrated with a case study.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2009-09492Junta de Andalucía TIC-606

Validation of SMOS L2 and L3 soil moisture products over the Duero Basin at different spatial scales

36th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment, 11-15 May 2015, Berlin, Germany.-- 6 pages, 3 figures, 3 tablesAn increasing number of permanent soil moisture measurement networks are nowadays providing the means for validating new remotely sensed soil moisture estimates such as those provided by the ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission. Two types of in situ measurement networks can be found: small-scale (100–10000 km2), which provide multiple ground measurements within a single satellite footprint, and large-scale (>10000 km2), which contain a single point observation per satellite footprint. This work presents the results of a comprehensive spatial and temporal validation of a long-term (January, 2010 to June, 2014) dataset of SMOS-derived soil moisture estimates using two in situ networks within the Duero basin (Spain). The first one is the Soil Moisture Measurement Stations Network of the University of Salamanca (REMEDHUS), which has been extensively applied for validation of soil moisture remote sensing observations, including SMOS. REMEDHUS can be considered within the small-scale network group (1300 km2). The other network started from an existing meteorological network from the Castilla y León region, where soil moisture probes were incorporated in 2012. This network can be considered within the large-scale group (65000 km2). Results from comparison to in situ show that the new reprocessed L2 product (v5.51) improves the accuracy of former soil moisture retrievals, making them suitable for developing new L3 products. Validation based on comparisons between dense/sparse networks showed that temporal patterns on soil moisture are well reproduced, whereas spatial patterns are difficult to depict given the different spatial representativeness of ground and satellite observationsThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Project AYA2012-39356-C05). Ángela Gumuzzio acknowledges support from the FPI grant BES-2011-050439Peer Reviewe

Characterisation of snowfall events in the northern Iberian Peninsula and the synoptic classification of heavy episodes (1988-2018)

Historic snowfall events in the northern Iberian Peninsula recorded between 1988 and 2018 are presented and analysed. This study makes use of data collected over a course of 31 years from 105 observation stations. These weather reports describe the temporal and spatial characteristics of five Spanish provinces facing the Cantabrian Sea. The average number of snow events observed per year (as recorded by all 105 stations) was 133, where a maximum of 421 snow events was recorded in 2010 and a minimum of 24 events were recorded in 2002. In addition, the monthly distribution of snow events per day had a maximum of 630 events, (February), with a mean monthly value of 170 snow events. Other features like the distribution of snow events depending on the altitude of each province studied and the corresponding spatial patterns are also shown. Furthermore, the circulation patterns responsible for heavy snowfall in the region were also examined. To carry out this study, we considered the daily patterns at 1200 UTC of the geopotential height at 500 and 850 hPa pressure levels and sea‐level pressure and temperature at 500 and 850 hPa respectively. The synoptic situations were classified based on a principal component analysis coupled with a K‐means clustering, and four groups associated with heavy snowfall events were subsequently identified. The analysis of the daily synoptic patterns showed that a trough was present over the Iberian Peninsula, or close by, and a low appeared over the Mediterranean Sea or Central Europe. The low‐level flow was from the north (N) or northeast (NE) in ~ 85% of the cases and the temperature at 850 hPa pressure level was lower than ‐3°C in ~ 70% of the cases

Abordaje nutricio en línea en consultantes del personal de salud, pacientes paliativos y sus familiares

El PAP calidad de vida en el ámbito hospitalario verano – otoño 2020 escenario COVID-19, se realizó en modalidad en línea debido al confinamiento a causa de la enfermedad provocada por el coronavirus SARS-COV2. Este proyecto es interdisciplinario conformado por alumnos de nutrición, psicología, derecho, artes audiovisuales y diseño. Se trabajó mediante atención telefónica a familiares y pacientes de cuidados paliativos, abonando la parte nutricional, psicológica y legal a quien necesitara asesorías. Se elaboró y dio seguimiento a un protocolo de investigación enfocado en investigar la calidad de vida de los cuidadores de enfermos en cuidados paliativos en donde se revisaron diversos artículos científicos para sustentar todo el documento y obtener nuevos conocimientos y en el periodo de otoño se procedió a realizar trabajo de campo, aplicando encuestas vía Google forms. Como actividades semanales se realizaron reportes de lectura de artículos científicos dependiendo del tema del mes en el que nos encontrábamos. Se llevaron a cabo bitácoras semanales, en donde se hacía un informe explicando todo lo que se realizaba día a día en el PAP. En el periodo de otoño se creo una cuenta de Facebook como parte de la difusión de los cuidados paliativos en los cuales se compartió la información para público en general.ITESO, A.C

Management Of Tizanidine Withdrawal Syndrome: A Case Report

Most drugs that act on the central nervous system (CNS) require dose titration to avoid withdrawal syndrome. Tizanidine withdrawal syndrome is caused by adrenergic discharge due to its alpha(2)-agonist mechanism and is characterized by hypertension, reflex tachycardia, hypertonicity, and anxiety. Although tizanidine withdrawal syndrome is mentioned as a potential side effect of cessation, it is not common and there have been few reports. We present the case of a 31-year-old woman with tizanidine withdrawal syndrome after discontinuing medication prescribed for a muscle contracture (tizanidine). She showed high adrenergic activity with nausea, vomiting, generalized tremor, dysthermia, hypertension, and tachycardia. Symptoms were reversed and successful reweaning was achieved by restarting tizanidine followed by slow downward titration. Withdrawal syndrome should be considered when drugs targeting the CNS are suddenly stopped. Weaning regimens should be closely monitored for acute withdrawal reactions

Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators Regulate Dendritic Spine Plasticity in the Hippocampus of Male Rats

Some selective estrogen receptor modulators, such as raloxifene and tamoxifen, are neuroprotective and reduce brain inflammation in several experimental models of neurodegeneration. In addition, raloxifene and tamoxifen counteract cognitive deficits caused by gonadal hormone deprivation in male rats. In this study, we have explored whether raloxifene and tamoxifen may regulate the number and geometry of dendritic spines in CA1 pyramidal neurons of the rat hippocampus. Young adult male rats were injected with raloxifene (1 mg/kg), tamoxifen (1 mg/kg), or vehicle and killed 24 h after the injection. Animals treated with raloxifene or tamoxifen showed an increased numerical density of dendritic spines in CA1 pyramidal neurons compared to animals treated with vehicle. Raloxifene and tamoxifen had also specific effects in the morphology of spines. These findings suggest that raloxifene and tamoxifen may influence the processing of information by hippocampal pyramidal neurons by affecting the number and shape of dendritic spines

Impact of intrathecal cell therapy with autologous stromal cells on short-term memory binding in early Alzheimer's disease : one-year follow-up assessment of two cases

Background: We had previously reported that the administration of autologous stromal cells (ASCs) therapy to two patients with mild AD dementia led to a global increase in cerebral glucose metabolism which was accompanied by significant improvement of visual short-term memory binding (VSTMB), a function known to be a marker of AD. We suggested that intrathecal administration of autologous ASCs could be considered a new therapeutic strategy for AD dementia (Vaquero et al., 2019). We were interested in investigating the post-intervention durability of such cognitive improvements. Methods: We studied two AD patients with cerebral beta-amyloid neuritic plaques detected with 18FFDG-PET. The patients received every three months 100 million of ASCs by intrathecal route, until a total dose of 300 million. None received any other medication for its disease at the time of receiving cell therapy. Clinical and neuroimaging studies were performed previous and after the therapy, including brain glucose metabolism by 18F-FDG-PET and assessment with the visual short-term memory binding task (VSTMBT). This task has been proposed as a preclinical marker of AD. It requires subjects to detect whether or not two combinations of shape and colour change across two sequential arrays. Here we report on the assessment of these patients one year after the therapy. We compared them with 4 AD patients who did no undergo stem cell therapy. Results: Single case statistics revealed that benefits drawn by treated patients from the therapy remained a year after. Using a more taxing version of the VSTMB test (memory load of 3 items) we observed that, after the therapy, the chance that an untreated AD patient would show more impairment was 75.45% (p= 0.24) for Case 1 and 89.23% (p=0.11) for case 2. This chance remained after 1 year post-treatment for Case 1 (75.45%, p=0.24) and increased for Case 2 (96.89%, p=0.031). Conclusion: Improvements of memory functions known to be marker for AD in patients who underwent stem cell therapy remained stable after one year post-intervention. This offers a new therapeutic strategy for AD

Role of collaboration in innovation success: differences for large and small businesses

This article analyses the role of collaboration in the contribution of innovation to business performance. Moreover, the analysis considers business size as a key control variable to understand the moderating role of collaboration in innovation success. A survey administered to Spanish firms from industrial, building, agriculture, and trade-service sectors measured two levels of innovation, incremental and radical, and two dimensions of collaboration, channel and consulting advice. The findings show that the probability of success increases when firms use collaboration to support innovation efforts. In addition, small businesses take more advantage of channel collaboration, whereas large businesses rely more on consulting advice-based collaboration. These findings suggest that the convenience of different collaboration approaches depend on business size. Also small and large firms differ on the way they might get additional advantages from alternative ways of collaboration. Therefore, the main contribution is the understanding of how innovation success depends on the interaction between the collaboration approach and business size