Social and environmental aspects of the energy transition

The need to promote a swift, efficient and fair energy transition to clean, secure and efficient energy production, storage, transport, and consumption is a major challenge for the future of the planet ( EC 2020 ). Currently, massive emissions of greenhouse gases ( particularly CO2 ) and other pollutants are changing global climate, and the lasts report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC 2018 ) advised that keeping the temperature increase below 1.5 ºC will require drastic, urgent and internationally coordinated actions. These initiatives will greatly affect advanced economies, characterized by high energy consumption, which should seek for clean and secure local energy sources, but they are also highly relevant for quickly developing countries, whose biodiversity, natural resources and standards of living are at risks due to over exploitation of local resources or to accumulation of waste products of energy production technologies coming from elsewhere. These processes of transition, though, have generated a variety of social and environmental impacts and, at the same time, have triggered complex questions about sustainability and social acceptance ( i.e. Sánchez-Zapata et al. 2019 for wind and solar energy production in Spain ). Social and environmental aspects of the transition to clean, secure and efficient energy production, storage, transport, and consumption should then be fully incorporated into research on new energy sources to ensure its sustainability.Peer reviewe

CerS6-dependent ceramide synthesis in hypothalamic neurons promotes ER/mitochondrial stress and impairs glucose homeostasis in obese mice

Dysregulation of hypothalamic ceramides has been associated with disrupted neuronal pathways in control of energy and glucose homeostasis. However, the specific ceramide species promoting neuronal lipotoxicity in obesity have remained obscure. Here, we find increased expression of the C$_{16:0}$ ceramide-producing ceramide synthase (CerS)6 in cultured hypothalamic neurons exposed to palmitate in vitro and in the hypothalamus of obese mice. Conditional deletion of CerS6 in hypothalamic neurons attenuates high-fat diet (HFD)-dependent weight gain and improves glucose metabolism. Specifically, CerS6 deficiency in neurons expressing pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) or steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1) alters feeding behavior and alleviates the adverse metabolic effects of HFD feeding on insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. POMC-expressing cell-selective deletion of CerS6 prevents the diet-induced alterations of mitochondrial morphology and improves cellular leptin sensitivity. Our experiments reveal functions of CerS6-derived ceramides in hypothalamic lipotoxicity, altered mitochondrial dynamics, and ER/mitochondrial stress in the deregulation of food intake and glucose metabolism in obesity

Influence of the Cumulative Incidence of COVID-19 Cases on the Mental Health of the Spanish Out-of-Hospital Professionals

This study aimed to analyze the psychological affectation of health professionals (HPs) of Spanish Emergency Medical Services (EMSs) according to the cumulative incidence (CI) of COVID19 cases in the regions in which they worked. A cross-sectional descriptive study was designed, including all HPs working in any EMS of the Spanish geography between 1 February 2021 and 30 April 2021. Their level of stress, anxiety and depression (DASS-21) and the perception of self-efficacy (GSES) were the study’s main results. A 2-factor analysis of covariance was used to determine if the CI regions of COVID-19 cases determined the psychological impact on each of the studied variables. A total of 1710 HPs were included. A third presented psychological impairment classified as severe. The interaction of CI regions with the studied variables did not influence their levels of stress, anxiety, depression or self-efficacy. Women, younger HPs or those with less EMS work experience, emergency medical technicians (EMT), workers who had to modify their working conditions or those who lived with minors or dependents suffered a greater impact from the COVID-19 pandemic in certain regions. These HPs have shown high levels of stress, anxiety, depression and medium levels of self-efficacy, with similar data in the different geographical areas. Psychological support is essential to mitigate their suffering and teach them to react to adverse events.This research was funded by Fundación ASISA and Sociedad Española de Urgencias y Emergencias (SEMES)

Evolución de Studium. Despliegue de la plataforma moodle 2.x

Memoria ID-2012.001. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2012-2013

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

Altered central and peripheral circadian clocks affecting energy metabolism in congenitally blind mice show differential entrainment by time-restricted feeding

Resumen del trabajo presentado presentado al CIBERDEM Annual Meeting, celebrado en Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona (España) del 11 al 13 de mayo de 2016.The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is a master regulator of circadian rhythmicity by synchronizing metabolic activity with daily light-dark cycles. The synchronizing function of the central molecular clock, consisting of self-regulated genes encoding transcriptional activators and repressors, is critically dependent on light-dependent stimuli reaching the SCN directly from the retina. In turn, the SCN translates this information to entrain molecular clocks in peripheral organs, which are essential to adapt metabolic activity to circadian variation. Here, we investigated the relative importance of the input pathway relying light information to the SCN for the function of central and peripheral clocks and for the circadian regulation of energy metabolism. We used Pitx3-deficient Aphakia (Pitx3Ak) mice, characterized by a congenital defect that severely disrupts eye development. Expression of clock genes was determined by RT-PCR, and energy metabolism was assessed by indirect calorimetry. Electroretinogram recordings showed that Pitx3Ak mice were completely unresponsive to light. Indirect calorimetry revealed that, contrary to control mice, Pitx3Ak lacked cyclic day-night oscillations in oxygen consumption, energy expenditure, CO2 production and respiratory exchange ratio. Expression levels of clock genes in the SCN and the liver of control mice showed night-day oscillations, but in Pitx3Ak mice they were reduced and showed no significant day-night variation. Time-restricted-feeding (TRF) allowing Pitx3Ak mice access to food only during the night resulted in the partial restoration of circadian rhythmicity in energy metabolism and expression of liver clock genes, but no change was observed in the expression of SCN clock genes. Our data show that congenital eye defects preventing the relay of light-dependent information to the SCN result in permanent defects in the expression of clock genes in the SCN. In addition, our results indicate that clock genes in peripheral tissues retain an autonomous capacity to be entrained by external stimuli in the absence of SCN-dependent activity.Peer reviewe

Differential entrainment susceptibility of central and peripheral circadian clocks affecting energy metabolism in Pitx3-deficient Aphakia mice

Póster presentado al 3rd Symposium on Biomedical Research: "Advances and Perspectives in Neuroscience", celebrado en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid el 22 de abril de 2016.The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is a master regulator of circadian rhythmicity by synchronizing metabolic activity with daily light-dark cycles. The synchronizing function of the central molecular clock, consisting of self-regulated genes encoding transcriptional activators and repressors, is critically dependent on lightdependent stimuli reaching the SCN directly from the retina. In turn, the SCN translates this information to entrain molecular clocks in peripheral organs, which are essential to adapt metabolic activity to circadian variation. Here, we investigated the relative importance of the input pathway relying light information to the SCN for the function of central and peripheral clocks and for the circadian regulation of energy metabolism. We used Pitx3-deficient Aphakia (Pitx3Ak) mice, characterized by a congenital defect that severely disrupts eye development. Expression of clock genes was determined by RT-PCR, and energy metabolism was assessed by indirect calorimetry. Electroretinogram recordings showed that Pitx3Ak mice were completely unresponsive to light. Indirect calorimetry revealed that, contrary to control mice, Pitx3Ak lacked cyclic day-night oscillations in oxygen consumption, energy expenditure, CO2 production and respiratory exchange ratio. Expression levels of clock genes in the SCN and the liver of control mice showed night-day oscillations, but in Pitx3Ak mice they were reduced and showed no significant day-night variation. Time-restricted-feeding (TRF) allowing Pitx3Ak mice access to food only during the night resulted in the partial restoration of circadian rhythmicity in energy metabolism and expression of liver clock genes, but no change was observed in the expression of SCN clock genes. Our data show that congenital eye defects preventing the relay of light-dependent information to the SCN result in permanent defects in the expression of clock genes in the SCN. In addition, our results indicate that clock genes in peripheral tissues retain an autonomous capacity to be entrained by external stimuli in the absence of SCN-dependent activity.Peer reviewe

Hypomorphic Expression of Pitx3 Disrupts Circadian Clocks and Prevents Metabolic Entrainment of Energy Expenditure

© 2019 The Author(s).Daily adaptation of metabolic activity to light-dark cycles to maintain homeostasis is controlled by hypothalamic nuclei receiving information from the retina and from nutritional inputs that vary according to feeding cycles. We show that selective hypomorphic expression of the transcription factor gene Pitx3 prevents light-dependent entrainment of the central pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. This translates into altered behavioral and metabolic outputs affecting locomotor activity, feeding patterns, energy expenditure, and corticosterone secretion that correlate with dysfunctional expression of clock genes in the ventromedial hypothalamus, liver, and brown adipose tissue. Metabolic entrainment by time-restricted feeding restores clock function in the liver and brown adipose tissue but not in the ventromedial hypothalamus and, remarkably, fails to synchronize energy expenditure and locomotor and hormonal outputs. Thus, our study reveals a central role of the priming of the suprachiasmatic nucleus with retinal innervation in the hypothalamic regulation of cyclic metabolic homeostasis.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grants BFU2014-52149-R and BFU2017-89336-R to M.V. and SAF2016-78207-R to R.M.) and by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain (grants PI13-02098 and RETICs RD12/0034/0006 and RD16/0008/0020 to P.d.l.V.) and was partially supported by European FEDER funds. A.d.R.-M. was partially supported by CIBERNED. CIBERDEM and CIBERNED are initiatives of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. I.P.-T. was supported by a fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (FPU 14/04457

Omega-3 Recovers Cannabinoid 1 Receptor Expression in the Adult Mouse Brain after Adolescent Binge Drinking

Adolescent binge drinking is a social problem with a long-lasting impact on cognitive functions. The cannabinoid type-1 (CB1) receptor of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) is involved in brain synaptic plasticity, cognition and behavior via receptor localization at specific subcellular compartments of the cortical, limbic and motor regions. Alcohol (EtOH) intake affects the ECS, CB1 and their functions. Evidence indicates that binge drinking during adolescence impairs memory via the abrogation of CB1-dependent synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. However, the impact of EtOH consumption on global CB1 receptor expression in the adult brain is unknown. We studied this using optical density analysis throughout brain regions processed for light microscopy (LM) immunohistotochemistry. CB1 staining decreased significantly in the secondary motor cortex, cerebellum, cingulate cortex, amygdala and nucleus accumbens. Next, as omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) rescue synaptic plasticity and improve EtOH-impaired cognition, we investigated whether docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) had any effect on CB1 receptors. N-3 intake during EtOH abstinence restored CB1 immunostaining in the secondary motor cortex, cerebellum and amygdala, and ameliorated receptor density in the cingulate cortex. These results show that n-3 supplementation recovers CB1 receptor expression disrupted by EtOH in distinct brain regions involved in motor functions and cognition.This work has been supported by The Basque Government (IT1620-22); Red de Investigación en Atención Primaria de Adicciones (RIAPAd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (RD21/0009/0006); Red de Trastornos Adictivos, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, European Regional Development Funds-European Union (ERDF-EU; RD16/0017/0012); and Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-107548RB-I00). M.S. is in receipt of a PhD contract from The University of the Basque Country (PIF 19/164)