Water

[p.4] Values at stake from the new water culture = Valors en joc des de la nova cultura de l'aigua[p.10] The role of schools in the future of water = El paper de l'àmbit escolar. el futur de l'aigua[p.13] Technocracy versus sustainability: education, ecology and management of the Baix llobregat Campus lake = Tecnocràcia vs. sostenibilitat: educació, ecologia i gestió de l'estany del Campus del Baix Llobregat[p.21] Menorca: the fresh water challenge = Menorca: el repte de l'aigua dolça[p.38] Water for people, water for life: the right to water and the role of development NGOs = Aigua per a tots, aigua per a la vida: el dret a l'aigua i el rol de les ONGD[p.43] Water you shouldn't drink...: the water crisis, sustainability and education in India = Aigua que no has de beure...: crisi dels recursos hidràulics, sostenibilitat i educació a l'Índia[p.46] Interview with Maria Rieradevall, expert in education and water = Entrevista amb Maria Rieradevall, experta en educació ambientalPeer Reviewe

Salivary cotinine concentrations in daily smokers in Barcelona, Spain: a cross-sectional study

Background: Characterizing and comparing the determinant of cotinine concentrations in different populations should facilitate a better understanding of smoking patterns and addiction. This study describes and characterizes determinants of salivary cotinine concentration in a sample of Spanish adult daily smoker men and women. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out between March 2004 and December 2005 in a representative sample of 1245 people from the general population of Barcelona, Spain. A standard questionnaire was used to gather information on active tobacco smoking and passive exposure, and a saliva specimen was obtained to determine salivary cotinine concentration. Two hundred and eleven adult smokers (>16 years old) with complete data were included in the analysis. Determinants of cotinine concentrations were assessed using linear regression models. Results: Salivary cotinine concentration was associated with the reported number of cigarettes smoked in the previous 24 hours (R2 = 0.339; p < 0.05). The inclusion of a quadratic component for number of cigarettes smoked in the regression analyses resulted in an improvement of the fit (R2 = 0.386; p < 0.05). Cotinine concentration differed significantly by sex, with men having higher levels. Conclusion: This study shows that salivary cotinine concentration is significantly associated with the number of cigarettes smoked and sex, but not with other smoking-related variables

Plasma concentrations of persistent organic pollutants and pancreatic cancer risk

dyab115Findings and limitations of previous studies on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and pancreatic cancer risk support conducting further research in prospective cohorts.We conducted a prospective case-control study nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Participants were 513 pancreatic cancer cases and 1020 matched controls. Concentrations of 22 POPs were measured in plasma collected at baseline.Some associations were observed at higher concentrations of p, p’-DDT, trans-nonachlor, β-hexachlorocyclohexane and the sum of six organochlorine pesticides and of 16 POPs. The odds ratio (OR) for the upper quartile of trans-nonachlor was 1.55 (95\.06-2.26; P for trend = 0.025). Associations were stronger in the groups predefined as most valid (participants having fasted \gt;6 h, with microscopic diagnostic confirmation, normal weight, and never smokers), and as most relevant (follow-up ≥10 years). Among participants having fasted \gt;6 h, the ORs were relevant for 10 of 11 exposures. Higher ORs were also observed among cases with microscopic confirmation than in cases with a clinical diagnosis, and among normal-weight participants than in the rest of participants. Among participants with a follow-up ≥10 years, estimates were higher than in participants with a shorter follow-up (for trans-nonachlor: OR = 2.14, 1.01 to 4.53, P for trend = 0.035). Overall, trans-nonachlor, three PCBs and the two sums of POPs were the exposures most clearly associated with pancreatic cancer risk.Individually or in combination, most of the 22 POPs analysed did not or only moderately increased the risk of pancreatic cancer.Peer reviewe

Evaluation of the relationship between effervescent paracetamol and blood pressure: clinical trial

Background: Paracetamol's solubility is achieved by adding to the excipient sodium salts, either as bicarbonate, carbonate or citrate. As the relationship between salt and hypertension is well known, due to the sodium content it has raised a hypothesis that may interfere with the control of that risk factor. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effect on blood pressure of effervescent paracetamol compared to non-effervescent, in hypertensive patients. Methods/Design: This is the protocol of a phase IV multicenter clinical trial, randomized, controlled, crossover, open, which will compare the effect of two different formulations of paracetamol (effervescent or non-effervescent) in the blood pressure of hypertensive patients, with a seven weeks follow up. 49 controlled hypertensive patients will be included (clinical BP lower than 150 and 95 mmHg, and lower than 135 mmHg and 85 mmHg in patients with diabetes or a history of cardiovascular event, and daytime ambulatory measurements lower than 140 and 90 mmHg) and mild to moderate pain (Visual Analog Scale between 1 and 4). The study was approved by the ethics committee of the Fundació Jordi Gol i Gurina and following standards of good clinical practice. The primary endpoint will be the variations in systolic BP in 24 h Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring, considering significant differences 2 or more mmHg among those treated with non-effervescent and effervescent formulations. Intention-to-treat and per-protocol analysis will be held. Discussion: Despite the broad recommendation not to use effervescent drugs in patients with hypertension, there are relatively little studies that show exac tly this pressor effect due to sodium in salt that gives the effervescence of the product. This is the first clinical trial designed to study the effect of effervescence compared to the non-effervescent, in well-controlled hypertensive patients with mild to moderate pain, performed in routine clinical practic

Genetic architectures of proximal and distal colorectal cancer are partly distinct.

OBJECTIVE: An understanding of the etiologic heterogeneity of colorectal cancer (CRC) is critical for improving precision prevention, including individualized screening recommendations and the discovery of novel drug targets and repurposable drug candidates for chemoprevention. Known differences in molecular characteristics and environmental risk factors among tumors arising in different locations of the colorectum suggest partly distinct mechanisms of carcinogenesis. The extent to which the contribution of inherited genetic risk factors for CRC differs by anatomical subsite of the primary tumor has not been examined. DESIGN: To identify new anatomical subsite-specific risk loci, we performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analyses including data of 48 214 CRC cases and 64 159 controls of European ancestry. We characterised effect heterogeneity at CRC risk loci using multinomial modelling. RESULTS: We identified 13 loci that reached genome-wide significance (p<5×10-8) and that were not reported by previous GWASs for overall CRC risk. Multiple lines of evidence support candidate genes at several of these loci. We detected substantial heterogeneity between anatomical subsites. Just over half (61) of 109 known and new risk variants showed no evidence for heterogeneity. In contrast, 22 variants showed association with distal CRC (including rectal cancer), but no evidence for association or an attenuated association with proximal CRC. For two loci, there was strong evidence for effects confined to proximal colon cancer. CONCLUSION: Genetic architectures of proximal and distal CRC are partly distinct. Studies of risk factors and mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and precision prevention strategies should take into consideration the anatomical subsite of the tumour

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Sistemas de becas y ayudas al estudio en España, Cataluña y Valencia

This paper aims to briefly summarize different systems of scholarships and study aids in Spain, Catalonia and Valencia that have emerged in the last decade from the general and specific regulatory framework in these areas. On the one hand, the main characteristics and evolution of the scholarships and grants system to the study of general nature from the Ministry of Education are presented, taking as a main starting point, as far as the general normative framework goes, the Organic Law 8/1985 of the Right to Education that recognizes the right for students to receive aid in order to compensate for certain deficiencies and the Organic Law 4/2007, dated April 12, amending Organic Law 6/2001, of December 21, of universities and regarding the framework of The Royal Decree 1721/2007, of 21 December, which establishes the system of personalized scholarships and study aids as well as their evolution through the respective royal decrees of thresholds for each academic year, indicating similarities and differences of the scholarships system at a state level during the period 2009 to 2015 and, secondly, two systems of scholarships from the Autonomous Communities of Catalonia and Valencia are presented, of which play a complementary role in the state policy of scholarships and general study grants.Este trabajo pretende recoger someramente diferentes sistemas de becas y ayudas al estudio en España, Cataluña y Valencia surgidos en la última década a partir del marco normativo general y específico en este ámbito. Por un lado, se presentan las principales características y evolución del sistema de becas y ayudas al estudio de carácter general del Ministerio de Educación tomando principalmente como punto de partida en cuanto al marco normativo general la Ley Orgánica 8/1985 del Derecho a la Educación que reconoce el derecho de los alumnos a recibir ayudas para compensar determinadas carencias y la Ley Orgánica 4/2007, de 12 de abril, por la que se modifica la Ley Orgánica 6/2001, de 21 de diciembre, de Universidades y en cuanto al marco normativo específico el Real Decreto 1721/2007, de 21 de diciembre, por el que se establece el régimen de becas y ayudas al estudio personalizadas y su evolución mediante los respectivos reales decretos de umbrales para cada curso académico, indicando similitudes y diferencias del sistema de becas de ámbito estatal durante el período de 2009 a 2015 y, por otro, se presentan dos sistemas de becas de las Comunidades Autónomas de Cataluña y Valencia que desempeñan un papel complementario de la política estatal de becas y ayudas al estudio de carácter general.

Fatigue resistance of press hardened 22MnB5 steels

© 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/In press hardened steels, fatigue behaviour is very sensitive to surface defects or irregularities, either intrinsic or introduced during trimming operations. This work addresses the understanding and prediction of fatigue resistance of press hardened steels from a fracture mechanics approach. The size of fatigue originating defects were evaluated and used to estimate the fatigue limit for different surface conditions (coated and uncoated), different coatings (Al-Si and Zn) and different edge condition (polished and mechanically trimmed). Good agreement was found between calculated and experimental values, which shows the potential of fracture mechanics to estimate the fatigue performance of press hardened steels.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft