Oriented functionalization of magnetic nanoparticles with E-cadherin

The synergy between nanotechnology and biological science is being exploited in the last years, giving rise to a great amount of knowledge generation and applications in a wide variety of fields. This increasing use of this type of nano-sized materials has awak-ened the interest on the interaction between them and biological entities: cells, tissues or organisms. Among all the types of available nanomaterials, iron oxide magnetic nanopar-ticles have shown a huge potential in the biomedical field due to their biocompatibility and other interesting properties, especially their ability to produce heat when exposed to an external alternating magnetic field. A virtually unexplored subject is the interaction of magnetic nanoparticles with cell membranes of living cells. The study of this topic will have impact on fundamental science (i.e. biophysical studies of the cell membrane under localized heating, changes in heating efficiency of nanoparticles when interacting with living cells) and will allow the development of brand new applications (i.e. hyper-thermia treatment, cell transfection). In the work here presented, E-cadherin has been selected as a targeting agent. It is a ubiquitous adhesion protein present in the cell membranes of many cell types, with im-portant physiological functions and a key role in cancer progression. Spherical magnetic nanoparticles have been functionalized with this protein in an oriented manner, so that they are able to interact with the homologue proteins in the cell membrane. In that way, this is proposed as an approach to immobilize magnetic nanoparticles on the cells sur-face. Two different strategies were designed, one of them showing promising results of the oriented functionalization. However, the efficiency of the process needs to be fur-ther optimized for the future applications of this platform

Evaluation of the sensitivity and production of flowers in tagetes erecta l. Exposed to high doses of sodium from irrigation with landfill leachates

Purpose Reuse of landfill leachate is an effective alternative for their nutrients to mitigate decrease in freshwater. On the other hand, the growth of vegetation in the final disposal areas provides many benefits such as improving the visual impact, controlling of hydric erosion, etc. The purpose of this work was to evaluate landfill leachate as irrigation water and source of nutrients for growth of Tagetes erecta L., an ornamental plant with phytoremediation capacities. Method Vegetal growth, physiological responses and mineral elements uptake of the ornamental plant Tagetes erecta L. were studied with different levels of landfill leachate irrigation. The landfill leachate was provided by the municipal waste treatment. Experimental period covered 34 days of daily watering between the beginning and end of the flowering stage. Three different irrigation treatments were used: T1: 10% leachate; T2: 25% leachate; T3: 50% leachate. Hoagland’s solution served as the control treatment. Results The irrigation treatment with a dose of 50% leachate causes a clear deterioration in the plant and its flowers. In lower doses, the plant responds favorably to both the production of flowers and the main features of them. Also, the water-use efficiency (WUE) is diminished in those plants irrigated with the major dose of leachate. Conclusion Maintaining controlled doses, landfill leachates can be used as an alternative source of water and nutrients. Irrigation with leachates of these characteristics should be done in dosages not higher than 25% to avoid possible damage of Tagetes erecta L. growth.Fil: Abrile, Mariana Guadalupe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Fiasconaro, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Gervasio, Susana Graciela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Antolín Bellver, Maria del Carmen. Universidad de Navarra; EspañaFil: Lovato, Maria Eugenia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; Argentin

Nanopartículas magnéticas para reacciones bioortogonales in vitro

Las nanopartículas tienen una gran versatilidad, y son útiles en una amplia variedad de campos, incluída la biomedicina. Encontramos entre ellas el grupo de las nanopartículas magnéticas, que son capaces de generar calor ante la acción de un campo magnético alterno. Esto ha propiciado un gran interés por las mismas en su aplicabilidad para el tratamiento del cáncer de forma más eficaz y menos tóxica que los tratamientos actuales. Uno de los retos actuales es conseguir guiar las nanopartículas al tejido tumoral de manera específica y selectiva in vivo, de forma que puedan inyectarse por vía intravascular y llegar a tumores no accesibles. La química click bioortogonal es una de las estrategias propuestas para lograrlo, utilizando una cicloadición azida-alquino promovida por tensión de anillo combinado con glicoingeniería metabólica. En este trabajo se utilizan nanopartículas magnéticas funcionalizadas con polietilenglicol, y se estudia la influencia de la funcionalización con distintas cantidades de ciclooctino, molécula que intervendrá en la reacción click. También se hace una primera valoración de la citotoxicidad de las nanopartículas no concluyente. La optimización de este proceso permitirá continuar con pruebas de hipertermia en cultivos in vitro con las nanopartículas unidas covalentemente a la membrana plasmática de las células

ICT education policy of the Community of Madrid (Spain): the teachers' perspective

Las políticas 1:1 nacionales se concretaron en España con el programa «Escuela 2.0» pero, en el caso de la Comunidad de Madrid, la concreción de esta política se denomina «Institutos de Innovación Tecnológica». A diferencia del programa Escuela 2.0, se caracteriza por el tipo de dotación y cursos a los que se dirigía. En este caso, en vez de ordenadores portátiles, se optó por terminales fijos anclados al suelo que dependen de varios servidores por aula y, en vez de llevarse a cabo en 5º y 6º de primaria, se comenzó a implantar en 1º y 2º de la ESO. Una política TIC que quiere producir cambios en los centros de educación secundaria obligatoria que participan en el proyecto para aumentar el éxito educativo del alumnado, entendido como mejora de los resultados académicos. En este trabajo se presentan las opiniones y expectativas del profesorado de educación secundaria de la Comunidad de Madrid respecto al impacto que tendrá esta política en sus prácticas docentes, en la forma de agrupar al alumnado, en el uso de materiales didácticos digitales y en las habilidades digitales del alumnado.Nationals Spain policies 1:1 were specified in most of Spain's territories through the «School 2.0» program, but in the case of the Community of Madrid, the national policy was defined through the «Technological Innovation Schools» program. This latter program aimed to introduce changes on the use of ICT in the Secondary Schools which joined the project, in order to increase the educational success of students, understood as improving academic outcomes. Both programs differ in the kind of technological equipment provided to the centers and in the grades targeted. Unlike the "School 2.0" program, which provided laptops to the schools, in Madrid fixed terminals fastened to the floor were chosen, which depended on multiple servers per classroom. On the other hand, rather than focus in 5th and 6th grade, it was implemented in 1st and 2nd grade of Secondary Education. In this study, the Secondary Education teachers' opinions and expectations about the impact of this policy in their teaching practices (students grouping, use of digital learning materials and students' digital competences) are described

El uso de proteínas en investigación: el caso de las cadherinas

En este trabajo se ha realizado una recopilación de información acerca de la cadherina E. Esta glicoproteína ha sido estudiada dada su función como componente central en la formación de las uniones adherentes entre células. Se ha recogido y sintetizado información de la proteína acerca de su gen, su estructura, sus modificaciones post-traduccionales, su regulación y sus funciones moleculares en la primera parte de este trabajo. Gracias a esta información se ha contextualizado la proteína para poder discutir aplicaciones que se le están otorgando o postular nuevas funciones posibles en un futuro cercano. Aquí se han recogido avances acerca de la presencia de la cadherina E en el desarrollo embrionario y su implicación en cánceres, en concreto el HDGC. En cuanto a aplicaciones futuras, se han descrito métodos de profilaxis para el HDGC y nuevos avances en materiales funcionalizados. Estos comprenden aplicaciones en superficies modificadas con cadherina E, como la generación de implantes percutáneos que se adhieren a la epidermis, y los nuevos avances en nanomateriales, como la transferencia de genes foráneos o el tratamiento selectivo y dirigido a un tipo celular.<br /

Synthesis of slow-wave structures based on capacitive-loaded lines through aggressive space mapping (ASM)

This article is focused on the automated synthesis of slow-wave structures based on microstrip lines loaded with patch capacitors. Thanks to the presence of the shunt capacitors, the effective capacitance of the line is enhanced, and the phase velocity of the structure can be made significantly smaller than the one of the unloaded line. The target is to achieve the layout of the slow-wave structure able to provide the required slow-wave ratio, characteristic (Bloch) impedance and electrical length (i.e., the usual specifications in the design of slow-wave transmission lines). To this end, a two-step synthesis method, based on the aggressive space mapping (ASM) algorithm, is proposed for the first time. Through the first ASM algorithm, the circuit schematic providing the target specifications is determined. Then, the second ASM optimizer is used to generate the layout of the structure. To illustrate the potential of the proposed synthesis method, three application examples are successfully reported. The two-step ASM algorithm is able to provide the layout of the considered structures from the required specifications, without the need of an external aid in the process.This work has been supported by MINECO-Spain (projects TEC2010-17512 METATRANSFER, TEC2010-21520-C04-01, TEC2013-47037-C5-1-R, CONSOLIDER EMET CSD2008-00066, TEC2013-40600-R and TEC2013-49221-EXP), Generalitat de Catalunya (project 2014SGR-157), Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats (who has awarded Ferran Martin) and FEDER Funds. Marco Orellana acknowledges the support of the Universidad de Costa Rica, MICITT and CONICIT to study at the Univesitat Autonoma de Barcelona.Orellana, M.; Selga, J.; Sans, M.; Rodriguez Perez, AM.; Boria Esbert, VE.; Martín Antolín, JF. (2015). Synthesis of slow-wave structures based on capacitive-loaded lines through aggressive space mapping (ASM). 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Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, 38(3), 190-193. doi:10.1002/mop.11011Garcia-Garcia, J., Bonache, J., & Martin, F. (2006). Application of Electromagnetic Bandgaps to the Design of Ultra-Wide Bandpass Filters With Good Out-of-Band Performance. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 54(12), 4136-4140. doi:10.1109/tmtt.2006.886155Bandler, J. W., Biernacki, R. M., Shao Hua Chen, Grobelny, P. A., & Hemmers, R. H. (1994). Space mapping technique for electromagnetic optimization. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 42(12), 2536-2544. doi:10.1109/22.339794Bandler, J. W., Biernacki, R. M., Shao Hua Chen, Hemmers, R. H., & Madsen, K. (1995). Electromagnetic optimization exploiting aggressive space mapping. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 43(12), 2874-2882. doi:10.1109/22.475649Koziel, S., Cheng, Q., & Bandler, J. (2008). Space mapping. IEEE Microwave Magazine, 9(6), 105-122. doi:10.1109/mmm.2008.929554Koziel, S., & Bandler, J. W. (2007). Space-Mapping Optimization With Adaptive Surrogate Model. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 55(3), 541-547. doi:10.1109/tmtt.2006.890524S. Koziel Q.S. Cheng J.W. Bandler 1995 1998Koziel, S., Bandler, J. W., & Cheng, Q. S. (2010). Robust Trust-Region Space-Mapping Algorithms for Microwave Design Optimization. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 58(8), 2166-2174. doi:10.1109/tmtt.2010.2052666Q.S. Cheng J.W. Bandler N.K. Nikolova S. Koziel 1 4L.J. Rogla J.E. Rayas-Sanchez V.E. Boria J. Carbonell 111 114P.J. Bradley 1 4P.J. Bradley 1 17 2013J. Selga A. Rodríguez V.E. Boria F. MartínJ. Selga A. Rodríguez J. Naqui M. Durán-Sindreu V.E. Boria F. Martín 2013J. Selga M. Sans A. Rodríguez J. Bonache V. Boria F. Martín 1 4Sans, M., Selga, J., Rodriguez, A., Bonache, J., Boria, V. E., & Martin, F. (2014). Design of Planar Wideband Bandpass Filters From Specifications Using a Two-Step Aggressive Space Mapping (ASM) Optimization Algorithm. 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The effects of captioned video on processing and vocabulary learning under different genres

Presentació a: EuroSLA 201

Reduction of Obesity and Insulin Resistance through Dual Targeting of VAT and BAT by a Novel Combination of Metabolic Cofactors

Obesity is an epidemic disease worldwide, characterized by excessive fat accumulation associated with several metabolic perturbations, such as metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. To improve this situation, a specific combination of metabolic cofactors (MC) (betaine, N-acetylcysteine, L-carnitine, and nicotinamide riboside) was assessed as a promising treatment in a high-fat diet (HFD) mouse model. Obese animals were distributed into two groups, orally treated with the vehicle (obese + vehicle) or with the combination of metabolic cofactors (obese + MC) for 4 weeks. Body and adipose depots weights; insulin and glucose tolerance tests; indirect calorimetry; and thermography assays were performed at the end of the intervention. Histological analysis of epidydimal white adipose tissue (EWAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) was carried out, and the expression of key genes involved in both fat depots was characterized by qPCR. We demonstrated that MC supplementation conferred a moderate reduction of obesity and adiposity, an improvement in serum glucose and lipid metabolic parameters, an important improvement in lipid oxidation, and a decrease in adipocyte hypertrophy. Moreover, MC-treated animals presented increased adipose gene expression in EWAT related to lipolysis and fatty acid oxidation. Furthermore, MC supplementation reduced glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, with an increased expression of the glucose transporter Glut4; and decreased fat accumulation in BAT, raising non-shivering thermogenesis. This treatment based on a specific combination of metabolic cofactors mitigates important pathophysiological characteristics of obesity, representing a promising clinical approach to this metabolic disease. Keywords: obesity; adipose tissue; insulin resistance; thermogenesis; metabolic cofactor