Genome scale metabolic modeling reveals the metabolic potential of three Type II methanotrophs of the genus Methylocystis

Producción CientíficaGenome Scale Metabolic Models (GSMMs) of the recently sequenced Methylocystis hirsuta and two other methanotrophs from the genus Methylocystis have been reconstructed. These organisms are Type II methanotrophs with the ability of accumulating Polyhydroxyalkanoates under nutrient limiting conditions. For the first time, GSMMs have been reconstructed for Type II methanotrophs. These models, combined with experimental biomass and PHB yields of Methylocystis hirsuta, allowed elucidating the methane oxidation mechanism by the enzyme pMMO (particulate methane monooxygenase) in these organisms. In contrast to Type I methanotrophs, which use the “direct coupling mechanism”, Type II methanotrophs appear to use the so called “redox arm mechanism”. The utilization of the “redox arm mechanism”, which involves the coupling between methane oxidation and complex I of the respiratory chain, was confirmed by inhibition of complex I with catechol. Utilization of the “redox arm” mechanism leads to lower biomass yields on methane compared to Type I methanotrophs. However, the ability of Type II methanotrophs to redirect high metabolic carbon fluxes towards acetoacetyl-CoA under nitrogen limiting conditions makes these organisms promising platforms for metabolic engineering.Marie Curie grant H2020-MSCA-IF-2016 CH4BioVal (GA nº 750126).Junta de Castilla y León (Ref. Project VA281P18)Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Proyect CLU 2017-09, CTM2015-70442-R

La nostra personalitat segons l'horari de son

Matutinitat-vespertinitat, sexe i el model dels Cinc Factors Alternatius de la Personalitat. Aquests són els paràmetres que poden definir la nostra personalitat. Els nivells de cortisol i melatonina modulen, respectivament, la situació d'alerta o de descans, i aquestes hormones estan implicades en els cicles circadians, que conformen els nostres horaris de son i vigília. Igualment, del sexe de l'individu, també en depèn el clímax de la seva activitat al llarg de les hores del dia. Un seguit de factors de personalitat completen el complex esquema psicològic que ha estudiat l'equip de la doctora Gomà, de la Facultat de Psicologia de la UAB.Matutinidad-vespertinidad, sexo y el modelo de los Cinco Factores Alternativos de la Personalidad. Éstos son los parámetros que pueden definir nuestra personalidad. Los niveles de cortisol y melatonina modulan, respectivamente, la situación de alerta o de descanso, y están implicadas estas hormonas en los ciclos circadianos, que conforman nuestros horarios de sueño y vigilia. Asimismo, del sexo del individuo, también depende el clímax de su actividad a lo largo de las horas del día. Un conjunto de factores de personalidad completan el complejo esquema psicológico que ha estudiado el equipo de la doctora Gomà, de la Facultat de Psicologia de la UAB

Estudi de rehabilitació de la masia Ca l'Umbert

El present Projecte de Final de Grau tracta de l‟estudi de l‟evolució històrica, diagnosis, intervenció, proposta de rehabilitació i reforma de la masia de “ Ca L‟Umbert “ de Montgat, municipi de la comarca del Maresme. La masia Ca L‟Umbert és un edifici aïllat que consta de 542,42 m² útils i 1020,44 m² construïts, distribuïts en 3 plantes. A part, hi ha edificat una zona annexa a la masia i una bassa, les quals no estan incloses. Aquest edifici antigament estava destinat al ús agrícola i ramader. Aquesta masia té forma rectangular en la qual podem distingir diversos cossos: principalment destaca una torre de defensa de planta quadrangular que sobresurt per la façana sud, i un cos central de la masia que consta de planta baixa, pis i golfes. L‟edifici per fora es troba en bon estat, però per dintre s‟ha d‟esmentar que esta en un estat clar de degradació, sobretot a les dues últimes plantes, en l‟aspecte constructiu a causa de l‟esgotament i decadència dels elements estructurals i constructius. S‟ha de comentar que ha tingut algunes actuacions, una d‟elles va ser no fa gaire temps endarrere ja que la planta baixa ha estat reformada per necessitat dels propietaris i les altres han estat canviant segons les necessitats de cada moment. Els objectius principals del projecte es centren en la realització de l‟aixecament de plànols de l‟edifici, ja que no es disposa de cap tipus de documentació gràfica sobre la qual poder treballar, fer un estudi històric de l‟edifici, fer un estudi de les lesions existents i finalment realitzar una proposta de rehabilitació i reforma. Amb aquesta proposta s‟intenta donar unes directrius bàsiques per a que l‟estat de la masia torni a ser el que era i es pugui tornar a utilitzar sencera com a vivenda, tal i com ho era en el seu moment però amb les necessitats d‟avui dia. Des de el punt de vista estructural, es planteja la substitució dels forjats més malmesos i s‟incorporaren reforços en aquells forjats que es puguin aprofitar. Els nous forjats es faran amb materials actuals i intentant que siguin el més sostenible possible i incorporant els elements que ens permetin preservar l‟aspecte rústic de l‟interior de la masia. Des d‟un punt de vista general, aquest projecte tracta de retornar a l‟edifici les prestacions perdudes al llarg dels anys, adaptant-lo als requeriments actuals sense perdre l‟encant de la seva construcció inicial, és a dir consolidar la imatge original del conjunt de la masia alhora que s‟introdueixin nous espais diferents. Gràcies a l‟execució d‟aquest Projecte Final de Grau he adquirit els coneixements necessaris per comprendre les condicions de vida i historia de la masia. Sobretot he aprés a fixar-me en els detalls constructius i estructurals per comprendre el funcionament i el significat del que podem observar a simple vista. A partir d‟aquest primer estudi ha estat més fàcil la recerca de solucions per els problemes de les lesions i per realitzar la intervenció necessària. No obstant, també gràcies aquest projecte he aprés ha preveure quina és la millor proposta de distribució a partir de tanta superfície

¿Cómo explican los niños y adolescentes el cáncer avanzado o terminal de sus padres?.

Background: Communication between parents and children is a complex process, many factors interact: child’s development, family education style and cultural values. Objective of this study was get closer to the descriptions made by children about their parents advanced or terminal cancer.Methods: Exploratory qualitative study, with a sample of 74 children and adolescents, aged between 5 and 18 years, jointly with their parents having cancer and also with their healthy parents. Information received by children about the illness and his comprehension, where registered trough semi-structured interviews.Results: The amount and type of information explained from both parents to their children was conditioned by the dilemma of explaining or not the diagnosis of cancer. Adolescents received more information than children, without observing differences between sexes. The majority of children and adolescents descrived adaptively the disease from their parents, regardless of their age and sex, being adolescents who used more technical and medical definitions.Conclusions: Oncology teams should integrate the psychological care in a preventive, systematic and strictly specific way for all the parents with advanced or terminal cancer having children.Introducción: La comunicación entre padres e hijos es un proceso complejo, interactuando entre si diversos factores: desarrollo del niño, estilo educativo familiar y valores culturales. El objetivo del estudio fue aproximarse a las descripciones que los hijos hacen del cáncer avanzado o terminal de sus padres.Métodos: Estudio exploratorio cualitativo con muestra de 74 niños y adolescentes de edades entre 5 y 18 años, junto a sus progenitores enfermos y sus progenitores sanos. Mediante entrevista semiestructurada se registró la información que recibían los hijos de la enfermedad y su comprensión.Resultados: La cantidad y el tipo de información que explicaban ambos padres a sus hijos estaba condicionada por el dilema de contar o no el diagnóstico de cáncer. Los adolescentes recibían más información que los niños, sin diferencias entre sexos. La mayoría de niños y adolescentes daban explicaciones adaptativas, independientemente de su edad y sexo, siendo las definiciones de los adolescentes más técnicas y médicas.Conclusiones: Los equipos de Oncología deberían integrar de manera preventiva, sistemática y escrupulosamente específica la atención psicológica para todos los padres con cáncer avanzado o terminal y con hijos menores

Employer branding: How to attract and retain talent

Treball Final de Grau en Administració d'Empreses. Codi: AE1049. Curs 2018-2019The objective of this project is to analyze in depth the practice of Human Resources of Employer Branding and see its application in the company CloudAppi. To this end, this work is structured in a first part in which a theoretical framework explains the new human resources technique: Defining the concept, defining the theoretical model to which it fits, analyzing the human resources practices that are used to develop it, analyzing its origin and the importance it has within the organization; a second part in which a case study puts a company as an example of how it manages its employer brand; and finally make new application proposals that could improve its employer branding

Income distribution and the effect of the financial crisis on the Italian and Spanish labour markets

This paper aims at estimating the costs of the current crisis in terms of income distribution and poverty taking into account by means of microsimulation techniques - the change in employment status in Spain and Italy. We construct a micro simulation analysis on the impact of the crisis on unemployment, household income, and inequality using the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions Surveys, and Labour Force Surveys data for Italy and Spain with reference to different types of households. We consider the effect of joblessness on household income and well-being and the impact of different systems of unemployment benefit on unemployment sustainability. Our focus is not only on the pecuniary dimension of well-being, but also in terms of the costs of limited access to medical and dental treatment and analyses

Water self-sufficiency with separate treatment of household rainwater and greywater

This paper is based on an academic work conducted by a group of students of the Engineering Project course within the Chemical Engineering Degree at the Engineering School of Barcelona. The objective of the exercise was to design a rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling system for a detached house and calculate the number of people that could be self-sufficient. Local rainfall, roof area for collecting rainwater and daily water consumption per inhabitant were considered. The effective amount of rainwater and purified greywater was also obtained. In this design, the rainwater is filtered, stored and preserved in a tank, and disinfected with UV light. A small quantity can be made drinkable. The greywater is filtered, treated in a biological reactor, flocculated, sedimented and finally disinfected with UV light.Postprint (published version

A single scaling parameter as a first approximation to describe the rainfall pattern of a place: application on Catalonia

As well as in other natural processes, it has been frequently observed that the phenomenon arising from the rainfall generation process presents fractal self-similarity of statistical type, and thus, rainfall series generally show scaling properties. Based on this fact, there is a methodology, simple scaling, which is used quite broadly to find or reproduce the intensity–duration–frequency curves of a place. In the present work, the relationship of the simple scaling parameter with the characteristic rainfall pattern of the area of study has been investigated. The calculation of this scaling parameter has been performed from 147 daily rainfall selected series covering the temporal period between 1883 and 2016 over the Catalonian territory (Spain) and its nearby surroundings, and a discussion about the relationship between the scaling parameter spatial distribution and rainfall pattern, as well as about trends of this scaling parameter over the past decades possibly due to climate change, has been presented.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Detection of Leishmania DNA in wild foxes and associated ticks in Patagonia, Argentina, 2000 km south of its known distribution area

Indexación: Web of Science; PubMedBackground: Zoonotic Visceral Leishmaniasis (ZVL) is a vector-borne disease affecting humans and other mammals and caused by the protozoan parasite Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum (syn. L. chagasi), belonging to the L. donovani complex. The regions in Northern Argentina (above 32 degrees S) are its southern distribution limit in South America. Results: We detected Leishmania sp. DNA (most likely belonging to the L. donovani complex) in 37.5 % of 32 grey foxes (Pseudalopex griseus) captured in Argentinean Patagonia (48 degrees S and 50 degrees S). Eleven monosexual pools of Amblyomma tigrinum ticks from eight different foxes (six grey foxes and two culpeo foxes P. culpaeus) were also positive. The southernmost known distribution limit for L. infantum, and the southernmost reported capture of a phlebotominae, had previously been 2000 and 750 km north of our study area, respectively. Conclusions: This finding is significant because it markedly extends the distribution area of leishmaniasis; supports the existence of a sylvatic cycle in the absence of dogs; and has implications in transmission, indicating that either sand fly distribution is broader than currently thought or non-sand fly Leishmania maintenance is possible. Additional molecular, parasitological, epidemiological and entomological studies are still needed.http://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-016-1515-