Obtención de biogás como alternativa ecológica para el cuidado del medio ambiente.

Aun en pleno Siglo XXI el gas natural no es accesible para todos los habitantes de nuestro país y del mundo en general, en muchos lugares se utiliza el gas butano, pero este puede ser muy peligroso. Con este trabajo pretendemos realizar un pequeño biodigestor, de bajo costo, cuya fuente de energía es de fácil obtención, prácticamente inagotable y con un fácil manejo. Este dispositivo permitiría que más personas tuvieran acceso a esta fuente de energía; además de reducir la cantidad de basura que, al no ser utilizada, resulta contaminante. Los biodigestores de uso doméstico son una excelente opción para generar un tipo de combustible llamado biogás. El biogás es una mezcla constituida por metano CH4 en una proporción que oscila entre un 50% y un 70% y dióxido de carbono conteniendo pequeñas proporciones de gases como hidrógeno, nitrógeno y sulfuro de hidrógeno. El biogás está producido por bacterias durante el proceso de biodegradación de material orgánico en condiciones anaeróbicas (sin aire). El metano producido por bacterias es el último eslabón en una cadena de microorganismos que degradan material orgánico y devuelven los productos de la descomposición al medio ambiente. El proceso que genera biogás se lleva a cabo gracias a un biodigestor que es un sistema que permite la descomposición anaerobia de desechos orgánicos para generar biogás (gas metano) en este proceso intervienen bacterias denominadas metanogénicas y también se pueden aprovechar los residuos como abono

Epigenetic Alterations in a Gastric Leiomyoma

Leiomyomas constitute 2.5% of all resected neoplasms of the stomach. They are usually asymptomatic, but may present mucosal ulceration. Aberrant DNA methylation is a well-defined epigenetic change in human neoplasms; however, gene-acquired methylation may not necessarily be related with a malignant phenotype. In this report we analyzed in a gastric leiomyoma, the methylation status of 84 CpGI in tumor suppressor and DNA repair genes. We analyzed the tumor center (TC) and tumor periphery (TP) separately. We found aberrant methylation in 2/84 CpGI in the TC portion, that is, MLH1 and MSH3, and 5/84 CpGI in the TP, that is, MLH1, MSH3, APC, MSH6, and MGMT.The gene with the highest methylation percentage in the TC and TP was MLH1. Given that MLH1methylation has been associated withmicrosatellite instability, we analyzed the status of themicrosatellite Bat-26. We found that neither the TC nor the TP presented instability.The methylation of MLH1, MGMT, and APC has been described in GISTs, but to the best of our knowledge this is the first time that the methylation of these genes has been associated with gastric leiomyoma. Further research should be conducted to identify reliable molecular markers that could differentiate between GISTs and gastric leiomyomas.Fil: Branham, Maria Teresita. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; ArgentinaFil: Pellicer, Monica. Laboratorio de Patología; ArgentinaFil: Campoy, Emanuel Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; ArgentinaFil: Palma, Marcelo. Provincia de Entre Rios. Hospital San Martin; ArgentinaFil: Correa, Agustín. Hospital Español; ArgentinaFil: Roqué, Monica Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza Dr. Mario H. Burgos; Argentin

Multi-compartment and multi-host vector suite for recombinant protein expression and purification

Recombinant protein expression has become an invaluable tool in basic and applied research. The accumulated knowledge in this field allowed the expression of thousands of protein targets in a soluble, pure, and homogeneous state, essential for biochemical and structural analyses. A lot of progress has been achieved in the last decades, where challenging proteins were expressed in a soluble manner after evaluating different parameters such as host, strain, and fusion partner or promoter strength, among others. In this regard, we have previously developed a vector suite that allows the evaluation of different promoters and solubility enhancer-proteins, through an easy and efficient cloning strategy. Nonetheless, the proper expression of many targets remains elusive, requiring, for example, the addition of complex post-translation modifications and/or passage through specialized compartments. In order to overcome the limitations found when working with a single subcellular localization and a single host type, we herein expanded our previously developed vector suite to include the evaluation of recombinant protein expression in different cell compartments and cell hosts. In addition, these vectors also allow the assessment of alternative purification strategies for the improvement of target protein yields

Multi-Compartment and Multi-Host Vector Suite for Recombinant Protein Expression and Purification

Recombinant protein expression has become an invaluable tool in basic and applied research. The accumulated knowledge in this field allowed the expression of thousands of protein targets in a soluble, pure, and homogeneous state, essential for biochemical and structural analyses. A lot of progress has been achieved in the last decades, where challenging proteins were expressed in a soluble manner after evaluating different parameters such as host, strain, and fusion partner or promoter strength, among others. In this regard, we have previously developed a vector suite that allows the evaluation of different promoters and solubility enhancer-proteins, through an easy and efficient cloning strategy. Nonetheless, the proper expression of many targets remains elusive, requiring, for example, the addition of complex post-translation modifications and/or passage through specialized compartments. In order to overcome the limitations found when working with a single subcellular localization and a single host type, we herein expanded our previously developed vector suite to include the evaluation of recombinant protein expression in different cell compartments and cell hosts. In addition, these vectors also allow the assessment of alternative purification strategies for the improvement of target protein yields

Novel Procedure for Laboratory Scale Production of Composite Functional Filaments for Additive Manufacturing

Successful 3D printing by material extrusion of functional parts for new devices requires high quality filaments. Uniform homogeneity and good dispersion of particles embedded in filaments typically takes several cycles of extrusion or well-prepared feedstock by injection molding, industrial kneaders or twin-screw compounding. These methods need specific production devices that are not available in many laboratories non-specialized in polymer research, such as those working on different material science and technology topics that try to connect with additive manufacturing. Therefore, laboratory studies are usually limited to compositions and filler concentrations provided by commercial companies. Here, we present an original laboratory scale methodology to custom-prepare the feedstock for extruding magnetic composite filaments for fused filament fabrication (FFF), which is attainable by a desktop single-screw extruder. It consists in encapsulating the fillers in custom made capsules that are used as feedstock and reach the melting area of the extruder maintaining the same concentration of fillers. Results have shown that our approach can create smooth and continuous composite filaments with good homogeneity and printability with fine level of dimensional control. We further show the good dispersion of the particles in the composite filament using X-Ray Tomography, which enabled a 3D reconstruction of the spacial distribution of the embedded magnetic particles. The major advantage of this new way of preparing the composite feedstock is that it avoids the hassle of multiple extrusion runs and industrial machinery, yet providing uniform filaments of well controlled filler concentration, which is predictable and reproducible. The proposed methodology is suitable for different polymer matrices and applicable to other functional particle types, not just limited to magnetic ones. This opens an avenue for further laboratory scale development of novel functional composite filaments, useful for any community. This democratization of complex filament preparation, including consumers preparing their own desired uniform novel filaments, will facilitate to unify efforts nearing 3D printing of new functional devices.Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional MAT-201677265-RJunta de Andalucía US-1260179, P18-RT-74

Transformación Mecánico Química de una Zeolita por Molienda de Alta Energía

Fil: Correa, Agustín Francisco. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Instituto de Geología y Recursos Minerales; Argentina.Fil: Sánchez, Laura Miriam. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Centro Salta; Argentina.Fil: Soriano, María Verónica. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Centro Salta; Argentina.Fil: Moriconi, Micaela. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Instituto de Geología y Recursos Minerales; Argentina.El presente trabajo de investigación basado en trabajos a nivel académico e industrial para procesos, consiste en estudiar los cambios estructurales que sufre una zeolita proveniente de la Provincia de San Juan Argentina, al ser sometida bajo un esquema de molienda a diferentes tiempos, y en los que se obtuvieron productos con diferentes granulometrías. Se trabajó con un mineral de zeolita dada su amplia utilización en diversos campos, como la industria del petróleo, la adsorción de gases, la separación, la purificación de aguas residuales y la remediación de suelos. A fin de colaborar en la investigación y mejoras de productos y procesos, y al ser la molienda de alta energía un método que ofrece diferentes posibilidades de cambiar cualitativamente las propiedades de los sólidos en diversas aplicaciones tecnológicas, resulta favorable el estudio de este proceso de reducción de tamaño de partícula. En la primera etapa del estudio (Parte I), se realizó una caracterización granulométrica de la muestra de cabeza y luego se trituró la misma con trituradora de Mandíbula y Molino de Disco, cuyos productos fueron también caracterizados. En la segunda etapa (Parte II) los productos pulverizados emergentes del esquema cinético de molienda están siendo caracterizados mediante Difracción de Rayos X, Espectroscopía Infrarroja FTIR, Superficie específica (BET), Capacidad de Intercambio catiónico (CEC) de manera de evaluar los cambios cualitativos estructurales de los mismos y sus aplicaciones tecnológicas. Independientemente de los resultados obtenidos, se espera incorporar los conocimientos del proceso de molienda aplicada al procesamiento de minerales y dar impulso al inicio de nuevas líneas de trabajo concernientes a esta temática

Accurate Strain Sensing Based On Super-Mode Interference In Strongly Coupled Multi-Core Optical Fibres

We report on the use of a multi-core fibre (MCF) comprising strongly-coupled cores for accurate strain sensing. Our MCF is designed to mode match a standard single mode optical fibre. This allows us to fabricate simple MCF interferometers whose interrogation is carried out with light sources, detectors and fibre components readily available from the optical communications tool box. Our MCF interferometers were used for sensing strain. The sensor calibration was carried out in a high-fidelity aerospace test laboratory. In addition, a packaged MCF interferometer was transferred into field trials to validate its performance under deployment conditions, specifically the sensors were installed in a historical iron bridge. Our results suggest that the MCF strain sensors here proposed are likely to reach the readiness level to compete with other mature sensor technologies, hence to find commercial application. An important advantage of our MCF interferometers is their capability to operate at very high temperatures.This work has been funded by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER); by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad under project TEC2015-638263-C03-1-R; by the Gobierno Vasco/Eusko Jaurlaritza under projects IT933-16 and ELKARTEK; and by the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU under programme UFI11/16

Modelo de balance hídrico y de sedimentos en el Complejo Lagunar del Bajo Sinú.

El artículo consigna la metodología y los resultados obtenidos en la evaluación de la dinámica hídrica, y sedimentológica del complejo lagunar del Bajo Sinú. Esta investigación reunió algunos elementos importantes para estudiar la respuesta de este sistema lagunar frente a diferentes condiciones hidrológicas y/o antrópicas, teniendo en cuenta la importancia que tiene el conocimiento de está dinámica para definir un plan de manejo integral adecuado en pro del desarrollo sostenible y sustentable de estos ecosistemas