Taking advantage of unexpected WebCONSORT results

To estimate treatment effects, trials are initiated by randomising patients to the interventions under study and finish by comparing patient evolution. In order to improve the trial report, the CONSORT statement provides authors and peer reviewers with a guide of the essential items that would allow research replication. Additionally, WebCONSORT aims to facilitate author reporting by providing the items from the different CONSORT extensions that are relevant to the trial being reported. WebCONSORT has been estimated to improve the proportion of reported items by 0.04 (95% CI, –0.02 to 0.10), interpreted as “no important difference”, in accordance with the scheduled desired scenario of a 0.15 effect size improvement. However, in a non-scheduled analysis, it was found that, despite clear instructions, around a third of manuscripts selected for trials by the editorial staff were not actually randomised trials. We argue that surprises benefit science, and that further research should be conducted in order to improve the performance of editorial staff.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Huellas de una arquitectura perecedera

En el número de Domus publicado en octubre de 1976, la revista italiana muestra en su portada la fotografía de una extraña agrupación de brillantes cúpulas y bóvedas de color blanco, reflejando los últimos rayos de sol del día. Ni su forma y disposición, ni tampoco el paisaje de olivos y cereal que las rodea, nos dan una pista sobre su finalidad. Algo parecido debió suceder a tantas personas que, durante su construcción en la periferia de la ciudad de Sevilla, difundían la falsa noticia del levantamiento de una sofisticada y secreta instalación de apoyo al ejército americano, ya establecido en la cercana base aérea de Morón de la Frontera. En páginas interiores la revista despeja las dudas sobre el edificio,una inofensiva pista de patinaje sobre hielo, obra del arquitecto José Miguel de Prada Poole(Valladolid, 1938). Un edificio, en efecto extraño, capaz de sugerir muchos comentarios pero cuyo análisis planteaba un reto mayor

Smart Structures. La arquitectura inteligente de José Miguel de Prada Poole

En 1968, el arquitecto español José Miguel de Prada Poole (Valladolid 1938) inicia sus investigaciones sobre Estructuras Pneumáticas de Respuesta Variable, influido por la cibernética y las incipientes técnologías de computación. La ciencia de la cibernética se basa en que tanto los humanos como las máquinas forman parte de un sistema de control y respuesta, es decir, un sistema de mensajes. Conocedor de las teorías de Norbert Wiener, padre de la cibernética, Prada Poole asumió el cambio de paradigma que convertía la comunicación en el instrumento esencial para entender la sociedad y la arquitectura

Synthesis of Analogs to A-Type Proanthocyanidin Natural Products with Enhanced Antimicrobial Properties against Foodborne Microorganisms

Developing new types of effective antimicrobial compounds derived from natural products is of interest for the food industry. Some analogs to A-type proanthocyanidins have shown promising antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities against foodborne bacteria. We report herein the synthesis of seven additional analogs with NO2 group at A-ring and their abilities for inhibiting the growth and the biofilm formation by twenty-one foodborne bacteria. Among them, analog 4 (one OH at B-ring; two OHs at D-ring) showed the highest antimicrobial activity. The best results with these new analogs were obtained in terms of their antibiofilm activities: analog 1 (two OHs at B-ring; one OH at D-ring) inhibited at least 75% of biofilm formation by six strains at all of the concentrations tested, analog 2 (two OHs at B-ring; two OHs at D-ring; one CH3 at C-ring) also showed antibiofilm activity on thirteen of the bacteria tested, and analog 5 (one OH at B-ring; one OH at D-ring) was able to disrupt preformed biofilms in eleven strains. The description of new and more active analogs of natural compounds and the elucidation of their structure-activity relationships may contribute to the active development of new food packaging for preventing biofilm formation and lengthening the food shelf life.Andalusian Consejería de Economía y Conocimiento (FEDER program 2014–2020: grant number 1380669),Spain, and the Spanish Ministerio de CienciaInnovación y Universidades (grant RTI2018-098560-B-C22,FEDER funds of the European Union)(Grant RTI2018-098560-B-C22, co-financed by the FEDER funds of the European UnionCentro de Instrumentación Científico-Técnica (CICT) of the University of Jaén, Spain

Prevalence of an Intestinal ST40 Enterococcus faecalis over Other E. faecalis Strains in the Gut Environment of Mice Fed Different High Fat Diets

E. faecalis is a commensal bacterium with specific strains involved in opportunistic and nosocomial infections. Therefore, it is important to know how the strains of this species are selected in the gut. In this study, fifteen E. faecalis strains, isolated over twelve weeks from the faeces of mice fed standard chow or one of three high fat diets enriched with extra virgin olive oil, refined olive oil or butter were subjected to a genetic “Multilocus Sequence Typing” study that revealed the presence of mainly two genotypes, ST9 and ST40, the latter one prevailing at the end of the research. A V3–V5 sequence comparison of the predominant ST40 strain (12B3-5) in a metagenomic study showed that this sequence was the only E. faecalis present in the mouse cohort after twelve weeks. The strain was subjected to a comparative proteomic study with a ST9 strain by 2D electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. After comparing the results with a E. faecalis database, unshared entries were compared and 12B3-5 showed higher antimicrobial production as well as greater protection from environmental factors such as xenobiotics, oxidative stress and metabolite accumulation, which could be the reason for its ability to outcompete other possible rivals in an intestinal niche.University of Jaen PP2009/13/03Junta de Andalucia PI Excelencia_2010 AGR 634

The Proprioception in the Muscles Supplied by the Facial Nerve

Proprioception is a quality of somatosensibility that informs the central nervous system about the static and dynamics of muscles and joints. In muscles, the proprioceptive originates in the specialized sensory-organ-denominated muscle spindles. Nevertheless, facial muscles lack muscle spindles, but the facial proprioception plays key roles in the regulation and coordination of facial musculature and diverse reflexes. At the basis of these functional characteristics are the multiple communications between the facial and the trigeminal nerves, and neuroanatomical studies have demonstrated that facial proprioceptive impulses are conveyed via branches of the trigeminal nerve to the central nervous system. Substituting muscle spindles facial muscles contain other kinds of proprioceptors of variable morphology that display immunoreactivity for some putative mechanoproteins known to participate in proprioception (acid-sensing ion channel 2, transient receptor potential vanilloid 4, and Piezo2)

Software tools for conducting bibliometric analysis in science: An up-to-date review

Bibliometrics has become an essential tool for assessing and analyzing the output of scientists, cooperation between universities, the effect of state-owned science funding on national research and development performance and educational efficiency, among other applications. Therefore, professionals and scientists need a range of theoretical and practical tools to measure experimental data. This review aims to provide an up-to-date review of the various tools available for conducting bibliometric and scientometric analyses, including the sources of data acquisition, performance analysis and visualization tools. The included tools were divided into three categories: general bibliometric and performance analysis, science mapping analysis, and libraries; a description of all of them is provided. A comparative analysis of the database sources support, pre-processing capabilities, analysis and visualization options were also provided in order to facilitate its understanding. Although there are numerous bibliometric databases to obtain data for bibliometric and scientometric analysis, they have been developed for a different purpose. The number of exportable records is between 500 and 50,000 and the coverage of the different science fields is unequal in each database. Concerning the analyzed tools, Bibliometrix contains the more extensive set of techniques and suitable for practitioners through Biblioshiny. VOSviewer has a fantastic visualization and is capable of loading and exporting information from many sources. SciMAT is the tool with a powerful pre-processing and export capability. In views of the variability of features, the users need to decide the desired analysis output and chose the option that better fits into their aims

Consideraciones etnohistóricas acerca de una tumba de pozo y cámara de Ingapírca (Ecuador)

Sin resume

Stress-strain response and microstructural evolution of a FeMnCAl TWIP steel during tension-compression tests

© 2016. The stress-strain response of a Fe-17.5Mn-0.7C-2Al TWIP steel during cyclic loading has been investigated by means of tension-compression tests within the strain limits of ±2%, ±5% and ±10%. In addition, the microstructural evolution during the ±5% cyclic test has also been studied. The difference between the forward and reverse stress for each pre-strain has been analyzed at 0.2% offset strain and at the strains in which forward and reverse curves were parallel in order to study the Bauschinger effect (BE) and permanent softening, respectively. The evolution of the BE with pre-strain for this steel is similar to other FeMnC TWIP steels, that is, increasing values of BE are obtained as the pre-strain increases. However, its absolute values are half those reported in the literature on other FeMnC steels. This diminution of the BE is related to the lower activity of mechanical twinning in FeMnCAl TWIP steels at the pre-strains herein investigated, which promotes less polarized stresses in the matrix due to the lower dislocation storage capacity.Regarding permanent softening, the evolution is similar to that of the BE and the same analysis can be applied. During reverse compression, a slight increase of twin thickness and twin spacing with respect to the first tensile stage took place. This fact might be linked to the lower flow stress observed in the permanent softening period during reverse straining.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft