La cueva de el Sidron (Borines, Piloña, Asturias) : primeros resultados

Se exponen los resultados preliminares de las excavaciones arqueológicas llevadas a cabo en la Cueva de El Sidrón entre 2000 y 2002, de acuerdo con los tres objetivos principales que conciernen al registro fósil humano: las características antropológicas, cómo y cuándo llegaron allí y la relación entre fósiles y cultura. Las primeras conclusiones obtenidas son que los restos humanos pertenecen al Neandertal, que el registro arqueológico corresponde a un tecno-complejo del Paleolítico Medio y que están en posición secundaria.We expose the preliminary results ofthe archaeological excavations developed between 2000-2002 in Sidrón's Cave, according to the three main objectives that concern the human fossil record: the anthropological characteristics, how and when they arrived there and the relation between fossils and culture. We conclude preliminarily that the record belongs to Horno Neanderthalensis, archeological remains to the Middle Paleolithic techno-complex, and they are in a secondary [email protected]

Is there life after degeneration? The organizational life cycle of cooperatives under a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy

This article provides an in-depth, longitudinal analysis combining real-time and retrospective data on a set of Mondragon's industrial cooperatives that are organized as international groups. We examine the life cycle of these international cooperative groups, which is expected to evolve differently to that of small- and medium-sized cooperatives that operate exclusively on a local scale. The article is theoretically informed by the cooperative life cycle theory, as well as by recent insights from the degeneration and regeneration theses. Our analysis yields an intricate picture of the evolution of cooperatives faced with a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy. On the one hand, our findings reject the highly simplistic and deterministic view of the degeneration thesis by demonstrating that these cooperatives can mobilize resources to revitalize cooperative values and practices. On the other, we find that regeneration may not occur in a consistent, sequential fashion as the previous literature suggests, but rather degenerative and regenerative tendencies can occur simultaneously, even leading to long-lasting, unresolvable situations. In light of this, the article asks future research to draw on power-aware and politically informed approaches for further understanding of how cooperatives manage the tensions at each organizational stage of their life cycle, and of which organizational actors benefit, and how, from reversing some degenerative tendencies while maintaining others intact

Knowledge, Practice, and Attitudes of Physicians in Low- and Middle-Income Countries on Fertility and Pregnancy-Related Issues in Young Women With Breast Cancer

PURPOSE: Fertility and pregnancy-related issues are highly relevant for young ( 64 40 years) patients with breast cancer. Limited evidence exists on knowledge, practice, and attitudes of physicians from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) regarding these issues. METHODS: A 19-item questionnaire adapted from an international survey exploring issues about fertility preservation and pregnancy after breast cancer was sent by e-mail between November 2019 and January 2020 to physicians from LMICs involved in breast cancer care. Descriptive analyses were performed. RESULTS: A total of 288 physicians from Asia, Africa, America, and Europe completed the survey. Median age was 38 years. Responders were mainly medical oncologists (44.4%) working in an academic setting (46.9%). Among responders, 40.2% and 53.8% reported having never consulted the available international guidelines on fertility preservation and pregnancy after breast cancer, respectively. 25.0%, 19.1%, and 24.3% of responders answered to be not at all knowledgeable about embryo, oocyte, or ovarian tissue cryopreservation, respectively; 29.2%, 23.6%, and 31.3% declared that embryo, oocyte, and ovarian tissue cryopreservation were not available in their countries, respectively. 57.6% of responders disagreed or were neutral on the statement that controlled ovarian stimulation can be considered safe in patients with breast cancer. 49.7% and 58.6% of responders agreed or were neutral on the statement that pregnancy in breast cancer survivors may increase the risk of recurrence overall or only in those with hormone receptor-positive disease, respectively. CONCLUSION: This survey showed suboptimal knowledge, practice, and attitudes of physicians from LMICs on fertility preservation and pregnancy after treatment completion in young women with breast cancer. Increasing awareness and education on these aspects are needed to improve adherence to available guidelines and to promote patients' oncofertility counseling

Study of the chemotactic response of multicellular spheroids in a microfluidic device

YesWe report the first application of a microfluidic device to observe chemotactic migration in multicellular spheroids. A microfluidic device was designed comprising a central microchamber and two lateral channels through which reagents can be introduced. Multicellular spheroids were embedded in collagen and introduced to the microchamber. A gradient of fetal bovine serum (FBS) was established across the central chamber by addition of growth media containing serum into one of the lateral channels. We observe that spheroids of oral squamous carcinoma cells OSC–19 invade collectively in the direction of the gradient of FBS. This invasion is more directional and aggressive than that observed for individual cells in the same experimental setup. In contrast to spheroids of OSC–19, U87-MG multicellular spheroids migrate as individual cells. A study of the exposure of spheroids to the chemoattractant shows that the rate of diffusion into the spheroid is slow and thus, the chemoattractant wave engulfs the spheroid before diffusing through it.This work has been supported by National Research Program of Spain (DPI2011-28262-c04-01) and by the project "MICROANGIOTHECAN" (CIBERBBN, IMIBIC and SEOM). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Basal forebrain atrophy along the Alzheimer's disease continuum in adults with Down syndrome

Background: Basal forebrain (BF) degeneration occurs in Down syndrome (DS)-associated Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the dynamics of BF atrophy with age and disease progression, its impact on cognition, and its relationship with AD biomarkers have not been studied in DS. Methods: We included 234 adults with DS (150 asymptomatic, 38 prodromal AD, and 46 AD dementia) and 147 euploid controls. BF volumes were extracted from T-weighted magnetic resonance images using a stereotactic atlas in SPM12. We assessed BF volume changes with age and along the clinical AD continuum and their relationship to cognitive performance, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma amyloid/tau/neurodegeneration biomarkers, and hippocampal volume. Results: In DS, BF volumes decreased with age and along the clinical AD continuum and significantly correlated with amyloid, tau, and neurofilament light chain changes in CSF and plasma, hippocampal volume, and cognitive performance. Discussion: BF atrophy is a potentially valuable neuroimaging biomarker of AD-related cholinergic neurodegeneration in DS

The RNA workbench: Best practices for RNA and high-throughput sequencing bioinformatics in Galaxy

RNA-based regulation has become a major research topic in molecular biology. The analysis of epigenetic and expression data is therefore incomplete if RNA-based regulation is not taken into account. Thus, it is increasingly important but not yet standard to combine RNA-centric data and analysis tools with other types of experimental data such as RNA-seq or ChIP-seq. Here, we present the RNA workbench, a comprehensive set of analysis tools and consolidated workflows that enable the researcher to combine these two worlds. Based on the Galaxy framework the workbench guarantees simple access, easy extension, flexible adaption to personal and security needs, and sophisticated analyses that are independent of command-line knowledge. Currently, it includes more than 50 bioinformatics tools that are dedicated to different research areas of RNA biology including RNA structure analysis, RNA alignment, RNA annotation, RNA-protein interaction, ribosome profiling, RNA-seq analysis and RNA target prediction. The workbench is developed and maintained by experts in RNA bioinformatics and the Galaxy framework. Together with the growing community evolving around this workbench, we are committed to keep the workbench up-to-date for future standards and needs, providing researchers with a reliable and robust framework for RNA data analysis

La cueva de El Sidrón (Borines, Piloña, Asturias): primeros resultados

We expose the preliminary results of the archaeological excavations developed between 2000-2002 in Sidrón's Cave, according to the three main objectives that concern the human fossil record: the anthropological characteristics, how and when they arrived there and the relation between fossils and culture. We conclude preliminarily that the record belongs to Horno Neanderthalensis, archeological remains to the Middle Paleolithic techno-complex, and they are in a secondary position.Se exponen los resultados preliminares de las excavaciones arqueológicas llevadas a cabo en la Cueva de El Sidrón entre 2000 y 2002, de acuerdo con los tres objetivos principales que conciernen al registro fósil humano: las características antropológicas, cómo y cuándo llegaron allí y la relación entre fósiles y cultura. Las primeras conclusiones obtenidas son que los restos humanos pertenecen al Neandertal, que el registro arqueológico corresponde a un tecno-complejo del Paleolítico Medio y que están en posición secundari

Translog, a web browser for studying the expression divergence of homologous genes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increasing amount of data from comparative genomics, and newly developed technologies producing accurate gene expression data facilitate the study of the expression divergence of homologous genes. Previous studies have individually highlighted factors that contribute to the expression divergence of duplicate genes, e.g. promoter changes, exon structure heterogeneity, asymmetric histone modifications and genomic neighborhood conservation. However, there is a lack of a tool to integrate multiple factors and visualize their variety among homologous genes in a straightforward way.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We introduce Translog (a web-based tool for Transcriptome comparison of homologous genes) that assists in the comparison of homologous genes by displaying the loci in three different views: promoter view for studying the sharing/turnover of transcription initiations, exon structure for displaying the exon-intron structure changes, and genomic neighborhood to show the macro-synteny conservation in a larger scale. CAGE data for transcription initiation are mapped for each transcript and can be used to study transcription turnover and expression changes. Alignment anchors between homologous loci can be used to define the precise homologous transcripts. We demonstrate how these views can be used to visualize the changes of homologous genes during evolution, particularly after the 2R and 3R whole genome duplication.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have developed a web-based tool for assisting in the transcriptome comparison of homologous genes, facilitating the study of expression divergence.</p