The CH-3Σ+ anion: inelastic rate coefficients from collisions with he at interstellar conditions

We present accurate ab initio calculations on several properties of a gas-phase system of interest in the interstellar medium (ISM), where the title molecular anion has been often surmised but not yet confirmed by observations. The CH-3Σ+ constitutes the smallest term in the series of longer anionic polyynes which have been observed in the ISM (e.g., C4H- and several others). Hence, its dynamical behavior in collision with He atoms, one of the most abundant atoms in that environment, can provide quantitative indicators on the changes which can occur in the rotational state population of the title anion when driven by this collision dynamics. We therefore report an accurate evaluation of the full potential energy surface (PES) which acts between the molecular anion in its ground vibrational state and the He atom. The relevant inelastic scattering cross sections and the corresponding inelastic rate coefficients are then computed within a quantum treatment of the collisions. We find that the fairly small values of the final inelastic rate coefficients indicate state-changing processes by collisions to be inefficient paths for modifying the rotational state populations of this anion and therefore to aid its possible observation from direct radiative emission in the microwave regio

Collision-induced state-changing rate coefficients for cyanogen backbones NCN 3Σ− and CNN 3Σ− in astrophysical environments

We report quantum calculations involving the dynamics of rotational energy-transfer processes, by collision with He atoms in interstellar environments, of the title molecular species which share the presence of the CN backbone and are considered of importance in those environments. The latter structural feature is taken to be especially relevant for prebiotic chemistry and for its possible role in the processing of the heterocyclic rings of RNA and DNA nucleobases in the interstellar space. We carry out ab initio calculations of their interaction potentials with He atoms and further obtain the state-to-state rotationally inelastic cross sections and rate coefficients over the relevant range of temperatures. The similarities and differences between such species and other similar partners which have been already detected are analyzed and discussed for their significance on internal state populations in interstellar space for the two title molecular radicalsFAG acknowledges the support of the Computing Center of Innsbruck University where part of the present calculations were carried out. L. G.-S. acknowledges the financial support by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacio´n (Spain) MCIN/AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033 (Ref. PID2020-113147GA-I00 and PID2021- 122839NB-I00) and C.S-S. further acknowledges the financial support by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacio´n (Spain) Ref. PID2021-122549NB-C2

Psicología social de cine: creación y evaluación de un fondo de recursos didácticos para la enseñanza de la psicología social basado en el cine

Memoria ID 0035. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la Innovación Docente, curso 2008-2009.El objetivo general de este proyecto fue la creación de un fondo contrastado de recursos cinematográficos que pudieran ser utilizados como recursos didácticos para la enseñanza de la Psicología Social.Las películas de este fondo deberían tener una relación conceptual con algún tópico importante de la materia. La visión, análisis y discusión de las situaciones presentadas en las películas debería servir al alumno para comprender mejor aspectos psicosociales importantes del comportamiento humano

Genome-wide linkage analysis of congenital heart defects using MOD score analysis identifies two novel loci

Background: Congenital heart defects (CHD) is the most common cause of death from a congenital structure abnormality in newborns and is often associated with fetal loss. There are many types of CHD. Human genetic studies have identified genes that are responsible for the inheritance of a particular type of CHD and for some types of CHD previously thought to be sporadic. However, occasionally different members of the same family might have anatomically distinct defects — for instance, one member with atrial septal defect, one with tetralogy of Fallot, and one with ventricular septal defect. Our objective is to identify susceptibility loci for CHD in families affected by distinct defects. The occurrence of these apparently discordant clinical phenotypes within one family might hint at a genetic framework common to most types of CHD. Results: We performed a genome-wide linkage analysis using MOD score analysis in families with diverse CHD. Significant linkage was obtained in two regions, at chromosome 15 (15q26.3, Pempirical = 0.0004) and at chromosome 18 (18q21.2, Pempirical = 0.0005). Conclusions: In these two novel regions four candidate genes are located: SELS, SNRPA1, and PCSK6 on 15q26.3, and TCF4 on 18q21.2. The new loci reported here have not previously been described in connection with CHD. Although further studies in other cohorts are needed to confirm these findings, the results presented here together with recent insight into how the heart normally develops will improve the understanding of CHDThis study was supported by the grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (08–1363 and 11–0699) of the Spanish Ministry of Health and by grant Str643/4-1 of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)

DUbbing language-therapy CINEma-based in aphasia post-stroke (DULCINEA): study protocol for a randomized crossover pilot trial

Communication is one of the most important predictors of social reintegration after stroke. Approximately 15–42% of stroke survivors experience post-stroke aphasia. Helping people recover from aphasia is one of the research priorities after a stroke. Our aim is to develop and validate a new therapy integrating dubbing techniques to improve functional communication. Methods: The research project is structured as three work packages (WP). WP1: development of the dubbed language cinema-based therapy: Two research assistants (a speech therapist and a dubbing actor) will select the clips, mute specific words/sentences in progressive speech difficulty, and guide patients to dub them across sessions. Words to be dubbed will be those considered to be functionally meaningful by a representative sample of aphasic patients and relatives through an online survey. WP2: a randomized, crossover, interventional pilot study with the inclusion of 54 patients with post-stroke non-fluent aphasia. Patients will be treated individually in 40-min sessions twice per week for 8 weeks. Primary outcomes will be significant pre/post differences in scores in the Communicative Activity Log (CAL) questionnaire and Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE) administered by a psychologist blinded to the patients’ clinical characteristics. Secondary outcomes: General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-12, Stroke Aphasia Quality of Life Scale (SAQOL-39), Western Aphasia Battery Revised (WAB-R), and the Stroke Aphasic Depression Questionnaire (SADQ10). WP3: educational activities and dissemination of results. WP3 includes educational activities to improve public knowledge of aphasia and dissemination of the results, with the participation of the Spanish patients’ association Afasia Activa. Discussion: This pilot clinical trial will explore the efficacy of a new therapeutic tool based on dubbing techniques and computer technology to improve functional communication of patients suffering from post-stroke aphasia with the use of standardized test assessmentThis study is promoted by Blanca Fuentes and the Research Foundation of La Paz University Hospital, which hosts a research consortium joined by the Department of Neurology at La Paz University Hospital, the Department of Psychology at Comillas Pontifical University, and the patients’ association Afasia Activa. This project has received funding from “la Caixa” Banking Foundation under the project code HR18-00026. Funder is not involved in any of the following processes: design of the trial, data collection, analysis, or interpretation of data nor than in writing the manuscrip

Improvement and sustainable management of river corridors in the Iberian Atlantic Region

Resumen de la contribución presentada en el congreso.SER Europe Conference, Restoration in the Era of Climate Change (11th, 2018, Reykjavick)Se incluyen 2 archivos: resumen de la ponencia y póster de la misma.VERBATIM: In the Iberian Atlantic Region, there are several landscape change processes (changes in the land use, presence of invasive species, activities regarding public use, intensification of agricultural and livestock farming, climate change) and phytosanitary problems (alder diseases caused by Phytophthora ssp.) that, currently, are threat factors of river corridor habitats. These factors are deteriorating and fragmenting them, and having a relevant impact on their functionality. The LIFE Fluvial project aims to mitigate these consequences, to improve the conservation status and to develop sustainable management measures of river and fluvio-estuarine corridors. Selected areas in the project are Natura 2000 sites belonging to several river basins located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). To this aim, LIFE Fluvial has designed the following actions: A detailed analysis of the current status and implementation of a trans-national model for the sustainable management of river corridors to reduce the negative impact caused by the threats and to avoid their spread towards other UE territories. Design and implementation of restoration projects to improve conservation status of the natural habitats of interest, connectivity and to reduce fragmentation. Control of invasive flora species that pose a threat to the conservation of river corridors, and improvement of their phytosanitary state by removing trees infected by Phytophthora Dissemination of the environmental relevance of river corridors and social awareness in terms of socioeconomic benefits and ecosystem services provided. Improvement of training/education and technical empowerment of the stakeholders involved in the management and conservation of river corridors. The project lasts four years (2017-2021) and includes a system to monitor the impact of the actions on habitats and ecosystem services provided by river corridors

First computational design using lambda-superstrings and in vivo validation of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the greatest threat to global health at the present time, and considerable public and private effort is being devoted to fighting this recently emerged disease. Despite the undoubted advances in the development of vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19, uncertainty remains about their future efficacy and the duration of the immunity induced. It is therefore prudent to continue designing and testing vaccines against this pathogen. In this article we computationally designed two candidate vaccines, one monopeptide and one multipeptide, using a technique involving optimizing lambda-superstrings, which was introduced and developed by our research group. We tested the monopeptide vaccine, thus establishing a proof of concept for the validity of the technique. We synthesized a peptide of 22 amino acids in length, corresponding to one of the candidate vaccines, and prepared a dendritic cell (DC) vaccine vector loaded with the 22 amino acids SARS-CoV-2 peptide (positions 50-71) contained in the NTD domain (DC-CoVPSA) of the Spike protein. Next, we tested the immunogenicity, the type of immune response elicited, and the cytokine profile induced by the vaccine, using a non-related bacterial peptide as negative control. Our results indicated that the CoVPSA peptide of the Spike protein elicits noticeable immunogenicity in vivo using a DC vaccine vector and remarkable cellular and humoral immune responses. This DC vaccine vector loaded with the NTD peptide of the Spike protein elicited a predominant Th1-Th17 cytokine profile, indicative of an effective anti-viral response. Finally, we performed a proof of concept experiment in humans that included the following groups: asymptomatic non-active COVID-19 patients, vaccinated volunteers, and control donors that tested negative for SARS-CoV-2. The positive control was the current receptor binding domain epitope of COVID-19 RNA-vaccines. We successfully developed a vaccine candidate technique involving optimizing lambda-superstrings and provided proof of concept in human subjects. We conclude that it is a valid method to decipher the best epitopes of the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 to prepare peptide-based vaccines for different vector platforms, including DC vaccines.Luis Martínez and Iker Malaina were supported by the Basque Government, grants IT974-16 and KK-2018/00090 and by the UPV/EHU and Basque Center of Applied Mathematics, grants US18/21 and US21/27. Carmen Alvarez-Dominguez was funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, grants DTS18-00022 and PI19-01580, co-funded in part with European FEDER funds “A new way of making Europe”, the Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla, grant INNVAL20/01, and the COST European action ENOVA CA-16231. David Salcines-Cuevas was supported by a predoctoral contract for the BioHealth research program of the Cantabria government. Hector Teran-Navarro salary was supported by the Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla, grant INNVAL19/26. Andrea Zeoli was an Erasmus student from the University of Milan “La Statale” (Milan, Italy) performing a stay at IDIVAL.Peer reviewe

Heme oxygenase-1 and 2 common genetic variants and risk for restless legs syndrome

Varios neurotransmisores, neuropatológicos, neuroimagen, y los datos experimentales, sugieren que la deficiencia de hierro juega un papel importante en la fisiopatología del síndrome de piernas inquietas (RLS). HMOX (Hemeoxygenases) es un importante mecanismo de defensa contra el estrés oxidativo, principalmente a través de la degradación del hemo a biliverdin, libre de hierro, y monóxido de carbono. Hemos analizado si los genes HMOX1 y HMOX2 están relacionados con el riesgo de desarrollar el síndrome de piernas inquietas. Se analizó la distribución de genotipos y las frecuencias alélicas de los HMOX1 rs2071746, HMOX1 rs2071747, HMOX2 rs2270363 y rs1051308 HMOX2 SNPs, así como la presencia de variaciones de número de copia (CNVs) de estos genes en 205 sujetos RLS y 445 controles sanos. Las frecuencias de rs2071746 genotipo TT y R2071746T variante alélica fueron significativamente inferiores en los pacientes de SPI que en controles, aunque los otros 3 SNPs estudiados RLS no difirió entre pacientes y controles. Ninguno de los polimorfismos estudiados influyeron en el inicio de la enfermedad, la gravedad de la RLS, historia familiar de SPI, la ferritina sérica, o respuesta a agonistas dopaminérgicos, clonazepam o GABAergic drogas. El presente estudio sugiere una débil asociación entre el polimorfismo rs2071746 HMOX1 y el riesgo de desarrollar el SPI en la población española.Several neurochemical, neuropathological, neuroimaging, and experimental data, suggest that iron deficiency plays an important role in the pathophysiology of restless legs syndrome (RLS). Hemeoxygenases (HMOX) are an important defensive mechanism against oxidative stress, mainly through the degradation of heme to biliverdin, free iron, and carbon monoxide. We analyzed whether HMOX1 and HMOX2 genes are related with the risk to develop RLS. We analyzed the distribution of genotypes and allelic frequencies of the HMOX1 rs2071746, HMOX1 rs2071747, HMOX2 rs2270363, and HMOX2 rs1051308 SNPs, as well as the presence of Copy number variations (CNVs) of these genes in 205 subjects RLS and 445 healthy controls. The frequencies of rs2071746TT genotype and rs2071746T allelic variant were significantly lower in RLS patients than that in controls, although the other 3 studied SNPs did not differ between RLS patients and controls. None of the studied polymorphisms influenced the disease onset, severity of RLS, family history of RLS, serum ferritin levels, or response to dopaminergic agonist, clonazepam or GABAergic drugs. The present study suggests a weak association between HMOX1 rs2071746 polymorphism and the risk to develop RLS in the Spanish population.• Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria: Ayudas PI12/00241, PI12/00324 y RETICS RD12/0013/0002 • Junta de Extremadura: Ayuda GR10068 GR10068 y PRIS10016 (Fundesalud,Mérida, Spain) • Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación: Ayudas SAF2006-10126 (2006–2009) y SAF2010-22329-C02-01 (2011–2013) • Parcialmente financiado Fondos FEDER – Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo RegionalpeerReviewe

Association between vitamin D receptor rs731236 (Taq1) polymorphism and risk for restless legs syndrome in the Spanish caucasian population

Varios trabajos recientes sugieren un posible papel de la deficiencia de vitamina D en la etiología o el síndrome de las piernas inquietas (RLS). Hemos analizado la posible relación de 2 polimorfismos de un solo nucleótido (SNP) en el receptor de la vitamina D3 (GEN VDR) con el riesgo de SPI. Hemos estudiado la variante alélica genotipo y frecuencias de VDR rs2228570 y rs731236 VDR SNPs en 205 RLS pacientes y 445 controles sanos mediante un ensayo TaqMan. Las frecuencias de los rs731236AAgenotype y la variante alélica rs731236un SPI fue significativamente inferior en los pacientes que en los controles (P<0,005 y 0,01, respectivamente). El síndrome de las piernas inquietas pacientes portadoras de la variante alélica rs731236G había una edad temprana en el inicio, y los portadores del genotipo GG731236rs tuvieron mayor severidad de RLS, aunque estos datos desaparecieron después de los análisis multivariados. Ninguno de los SNPs estudiados estaba relacionada con la positividad de la historia familiar de SPI. Estos resultados sugieren una modesta, pero significativa asociación entre rs731236 VDR SNP y el riesgo de síndrome de piernas inquietas.Several recent works suggest a possible role of vitamin D deficiency in the etiology or restless legs syndrome (RLS). We analyzed the possible relationship of 2 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the vitamin D3 receptor (VDR) gene with the risk for RLS. We studied the genotype and allelic variant frequencies of VDR rs2228570 and VDR rs731236 SNPs in 205 RLS patients and 445 healthy controls using a TaqMan essay. The frequencies of the rs731236AAgenotype and the allelic variant rs731236A were significantly lower in RLS patients than in controls (P<0.005 and<0.01, respectively). Restless legs syndrome patients carrying the allelic variant rs731236G had an earlier age at onset, and those carrying the rs731236GG genotype had higher severity of RLS, although these data disappeared after multivariate analyses. None of the SNPs studied was related with the positivity of family history of RLS. These results suggest a modest, but significant association between VDR rs731236 SNP and the risk for RLS.• Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria: Ayudas PI12/00241, PI12/00324, y RETICS RD12/0013/0002 • Junta de Extremadura: GR15026 y PRIS10016 • Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación: Ayudas SAF2006-10126 (2006–2009) y SAF2010-22329-C02-01 (2011-2013) • Parciamente financiado con Fondos FEDERpeerReviewe

Association between vitamin D receptor rs731236 (Taq1) polymorphism and risk for restless legs syndrome in the Spanish caucasian population

Varios trabajos recientes sugieren un posible papel de la deficiencia de vitamina D en la etiología o el síndrome de las piernas inquietas (RLS). Hemos analizado la posible relación de 2 polimorfismos de un solo nucleótido (SNP) en el receptor de la vitamina D3 (GEN VDR) con el riesgo de SPI. Hemos estudiado la variante alélica genotipo y frecuencias de VDR rs2228570 y rs731236 VDR SNPs en 205 RLS pacientes y 445 controles sanos mediante un ensayo TaqMan. Las frecuencias de los rs731236AAgenotype y la variante alélica rs731236un SPI fue significativamente inferior en los pacientes que en los controles (P<0,005 y 0,01, respectivamente). El síndrome de las piernas inquietas pacientes portadoras de la variante alélica rs731236G había una edad temprana en el inicio, y los portadores del genotipo GG731236rs tuvieron mayor severidad de RLS, aunque estos datos desaparecieron después de los análisis multivariados. Ninguno de los SNPs estudiados estaba relacionada con la positividad de la historia familiar de SPI. Estos resultados sugieren una modesta, pero significativa asociación entre rs731236 VDR SNP y el riesgo de síndrome de piernas inquietas.Several recent works suggest a possible role of vitamin D deficiency in the etiology or restless legs syndrome (RLS). We analyzed the possible relationship of 2 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the vitamin D3 receptor (VDR) gene with the risk for RLS. We studied the genotype and allelic variant frequencies of VDR rs2228570 and VDR rs731236 SNPs in 205 RLS patients and 445 healthy controls using a TaqMan essay. The frequencies of the rs731236AAgenotype and the allelic variant rs731236A were significantly lower in RLS patients than in controls (P<0.005 and<0.01, respectively). Restless legs syndrome patients carrying the allelic variant rs731236G had an earlier age at onset, and those carrying the rs731236GG genotype had higher severity of RLS, although these data disappeared after multivariate analyses. None of the SNPs studied was related with the positivity of family history of RLS. These results suggest a modest, but significant association between VDR rs731236 SNP and the risk for RLS.• Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria: Ayudas PI12/00241, PI12/00324, y RETICS RD12/0013/0002 • Junta de Extremadura: GR15026 y PRIS10016 • Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación: Ayudas SAF2006-10126 (2006–2009) y SAF2010-22329-C02-01 (2011-2013) • Parciamente financiado con Fondos FEDERpeerReviewe