Sociedad, ideología y entornos construidos durante la Protohistoria del Oriente Meseteño: el caso de El Ceremeño de Herrería

The current application of theoretical and methodological schemes coming from Landscape Archaeology provides the investigation of the pre-Roman world of the Iberian Peninsula with some useful tools for the reconstruction of the rationality patterns prevailing in that period. However, this perspective has not yet found a substantial echo among the scholars working on the Protohistoric cultures of the Eastern border of the Spanish plateau, where recent excavations and surveys provide particularly valuable evidence for undertaking this line of research. Therefore, this paper focuses on the analysis of the social and symbolic meaning of the successive urban layouts of the pre-Roman settlement of El Ceremeño at Herrería (Guadalajara, Spain). The configuration of the different spaces built there is analysed, first by considering the structural and functional relationship of the different buildings within the settlement, and later by examining the relationship of the settlement itself with other settlements in the same environment.  La aplicación de esquemas teórico-metodológicos aportados por la Arqueología del Paisaje está dotando a los estudios sobre el mundo prerromano peninsular de unas herramientas de gran utilidad para aproximarnos a los patrones de racionalidad imperantes en aquella época. No obstante, estos planteamientos todavía no han encontrado un eco sustancial en la investigación sobre las culturas prerromanas del Oriente de la Meseta, donde las excavaciones y prospecciones desarrolladas en los últimos años están aportando un volumen de información especialmente valioso para acometer este tipo de análisis. Por esta razón, el presente artículo se centra en una lectura de la dimensión social y simbólica de los sucesivos entramados urbanos documentados en el poblado pre-romano de El Ceremeño de Herrería (Guadalajara, España). Se analiza la configuración de los distintos espacios allí construidos, considerando primero las relaciones estructurales y funcionales que las distintas construcciones guardan entre sí dentro del asentamiento, y analizando más tarde las que éste guarda con otros enclaves del entorno.

Evaluation of bacterial adherence of clinical isolates of Staphylococcus sp. using a competitive model: An in vitro approach to the "race for the surface" theory

Objectives Implant-related infection is one of the most devastating complications in orthopaedic surgery. Many surface and/or material modifications have been developed in order to minimise this problem; however, most of the in vitro studies did not evaluate bacterial adhesion in the presence of eukaryotic cells, as stated by the 'race for the surface' theory. Moreover, the adherence of numerous clinical strains with different initial concentrations has not been studied. Methods We describe a method for the study of bacterial adherence in the presence of preosteoblastic cells. For this purpose we mixed different concentrations of bacterial cells from collection and clinical strains of staphylococci isolated from implant-related infections with preosteoblastic cells, and analysed the minimal concentration of bacteria able to colonise the surface of the material with image analysis. Results Our results show that clinical strains adhere to the material surface at lower concentrations than collection strains. A destructive effect of bacteria on preosteoblastic cells was also detected, especially with higher concentrations of bacteria. Conclusions The method described herein can be used to evaluate the effect of surface modifications on bacterial adherence more accurately than conventional monoculture studies. Clinical strains behave differently than collection strains with respect to bacterial adherence.This work was funded by the following grants from the Spanish MINECO (MAT2013- 48224-C2-2-R and MAT2013-48224-C2-1-R). M. Martínez-Pérez reports funding received from EFORT 2015 congress: travel supported by PFIZER, which is related to this article. J. Esteban and E. Gómez-Barrena report funding received from several companies for travel, expenses and grants, none of which is related to this articl

Diagnostico del Impacto del Palangre de Fondo en los Hábitats Bentónicos en los LICs de la RN20000

En prens

Deep-sequencing reveals broad subtype-specific HCV resistance mutations associated with treatment failure

A percentage of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients fail direct acting antiviral (DAA)-based treatment regimens, often because of drug resistance-associated substitutions (RAS). The aim of this study was to characterize the resistance profile of a large cohort of patients failing DAA-based treatments, and investigate the relationship between HCV subtype and failure, as an aid to optimizing management of these patients. A new, standardized HCV-RAS testing protocol based on deep sequencing was designed and applied to 220 previously subtyped samples from patients failing DAA treatment, collected in 39 Spanish hospitals. The majority had received DAA-based interferon (IFN) a-free regimens; 79% had failed sofosbuvir-containing therapy. Genomic regions encoding the nonstructural protein (NS) 3, NS5A, and NS5B (DAA target regions) were analyzed using subtype-specific primers. Viral subtype distribution was as follows: genotype (G) 1, 62.7%; G3a, 21.4%; G4d, 12.3%; G2, 1.8%; and mixed infections 1.8%. Overall, 88.6% of patients carried at least 1 RAS, and 19% carried RAS at frequencies below 20% in the mutant spectrum. There were no differences in RAS selection between treatments with and without ribavirin. Regardless of the treatment received, each HCV subtype showed specific types of RAS. Of note, no RAS were detected in the target proteins of 18.6% of patients failing treatment, and 30.4% of patients had RAS in proteins that were not targets of the inhibitors they received. HCV patients failing DAA therapy showed a high diversity of RAS. Ribavirin use did not influence the type or number of RAS at failure. The subtype-specific pattern of RAS emergence underscores the importance of accurate HCV subtyping. The frequency of “extra-target” RAS suggests the need for RAS screening in all three DAA target regions

Geoarchaeology and castlescapes: heritage management case studies in Spain and the eastern Baltic

This paper promotes the application of geoarchaeology—joint studies using historical, archaeological and heritage approaches—to the conservation and management practice of castles and landscapes in the context of ‘castlescapes’. Using case studies from recent research on medieval castles in frontier regions of the eastern Baltic and Spain, it demonstrates how geoarchaeology can create synergies between on-site and off-site environments and between cultural and natural heritage and draw valuable information from soils and sediments about the changing form and function of spaces within castles, and about the links between these spaces and activities in their hinterlands. Geoarchaeological approaches can also illuminate the diachronic biographies that hide from visitors in the buried archaeology of castles, which to most visitors would be blank cavasses, but which can provide snap-shots of castle life in the context of a wider landscape. Castles are commonly publicly recognised as being important historical monuments, but from a heritage perspective they are often presented in isolation from their associated historical territories, and often (especially in frontier regions) appropriated within modern politics, which has influenced both heritage management decisions and research frameworks

Age and date for early arrival of the Acheulian in Europe (Barranc de la Boella, la Canonja, Spain)

The first arrivals of hominin populations into Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene are currently considered to have occurred as short and poorly dated biological dispersions. Questions as to the tempo and mode of these early prehistoric settlements have given rise to debates concerning the taxonomic significance of the lithic assemblages, as trace fossils, and the geographical distribution of the technological traditions found in the Lower Palaeolithic record. Here, we report on the Barranc de la Boella site which has yielded a lithic assemblage dating to ,1 million years ago that includes large cutting tools (LCT). We argue that distinct technological traditions coexisted in the Iberian archaeological repertoires of the late Early Pleistocene age in a similar way to the earliest sub-Saharan African artefact assemblages. These differences between stone tool assemblages may be attributed to the different chronologies of hominin dispersal events. The archaeological record of Barranc de la Boella completes the geographical distribution of LCT assemblages across southern Eurasia during the EMPT (Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition, circa 942 to 641 kyr). Up to now, chronology of the earliest European LCT assemblages is based on the abundant Palaeolithic record found in terrace river sequences which have been dated to the end of the EMPT and later. However, the findings at Barranc de la Boella suggest that early LCT lithic assemblages appeared in the SW of Europe during earlier hominin dispersal episodes before the definitive colonization of temperate Eurasia took place.The research at Barranc de la Boella has been carried out with the financial support of the Spanish Ministerio de Economı´a y Competitividad (CGL2012- 36682; CGL2012-38358, CGL2012-38434-C03-03 and CGL2010-15326; MICINN project HAR2009-7223/HIST), Generalitat de Catalunya, AGAUR agence (projects 2014SGR-901; 2014SGR-899; 2009SGR-324, 2009PBR-0033 and 2009SGR-188) and Junta de Castilla y Leo´n BU1004A09. Financial support for Barranc de la Boella field work and archaeological excavations is provided by the Ajuntament de la Canonja and Departament de Cultura (Servei d’Arqueologia i Paleontologia) de la Generalitat de Catalunya. A. Carrancho’s research was funded by the International Excellence Programme, Reinforcement subprogramme of the Spanish Ministry of Education. I. Lozano-Ferna´ndez acknowledges the pre-doctoral grant from the Fundacio´n Atapuerca. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

Pooled analysis of WHO Surgical Safety Checklist use and mortality after emergency laparotomy

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist has fostered safe practice for 10 years, yet its place in emergency surgery has not been assessed on a global scale. The aim of this study was to evaluate reported checklist use in emergency settings and examine the relationship with perioperative mortality in patients who had emergency laparotomy. Methods In two multinational cohort studies, adults undergoing emergency laparotomy were compared with those having elective gastrointestinal surgery. Relationships between reported checklist use and mortality were determined using multivariable logistic regression and bootstrapped simulation. Results Of 12 296 patients included from 76 countries, 4843 underwent emergency laparotomy. After adjusting for patient and disease factors, checklist use before emergency laparotomy was more common in countries with a high Human Development Index (HDI) (2455 of 2741, 89.6 per cent) compared with that in countries with a middle (753 of 1242, 60.6 per cent; odds ratio (OR) 0.17, 95 per cent c.i. 0.14 to 0.21, P <0001) or low (363 of 860, 422 per cent; OR 008, 007 to 010, P <0.001) HDI. Checklist use was less common in elective surgery than for emergency laparotomy in high-HDI countries (risk difference -94 (95 per cent c.i. -11.9 to -6.9) per cent; P <0001), but the relationship was reversed in low-HDI countries (+121 (+7.0 to +173) per cent; P <0001). In multivariable models, checklist use was associated with a lower 30-day perioperative mortality (OR 0.60, 0.50 to 073; P <0.001). The greatest absolute benefit was seen for emergency surgery in low- and middle-HDI countries. Conclusion Checklist use in emergency laparotomy was associated with a significantly lower perioperative mortality rate. Checklist use in low-HDI countries was half that in high-HDI countries.Peer reviewe

Global variation in anastomosis and end colostomy formation following left-sided colorectal resection

Background End colostomy rates following colorectal resection vary across institutions in high-income settings, being influenced by patient, disease, surgeon and system factors. This study aimed to assess global variation in end colostomy rates after left-sided colorectal resection. Methods This study comprised an analysis of GlobalSurg-1 and -2 international, prospective, observational cohort studies (2014, 2016), including consecutive adult patients undergoing elective or emergency left-sided colorectal resection within discrete 2-week windows. Countries were grouped into high-, middle- and low-income tertiles according to the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). Factors associated with colostomy formation versus primary anastomosis were explored using a multilevel, multivariable logistic regression model. Results In total, 1635 patients from 242 hospitals in 57 countries undergoing left-sided colorectal resection were included: 113 (6·9 per cent) from low-HDI, 254 (15·5 per cent) from middle-HDI and 1268 (77·6 per cent) from high-HDI countries. There was a higher proportion of patients with perforated disease (57·5, 40·9 and 35·4 per cent; P < 0·001) and subsequent use of end colostomy (52·2, 24·8 and 18·9 per cent; P < 0·001) in low- compared with middle- and high-HDI settings. The association with colostomy use in low-HDI settings persisted (odds ratio (OR) 3·20, 95 per cent c.i. 1·35 to 7·57; P = 0·008) after risk adjustment for malignant disease (OR 2·34, 1·65 to 3·32; P < 0·001), emergency surgery (OR 4·08, 2·73 to 6·10; P < 0·001), time to operation at least 48 h (OR 1·99, 1·28 to 3·09; P = 0·002) and disease perforation (OR 4·00, 2·81 to 5·69; P < 0·001). Conclusion Global differences existed in the proportion of patients receiving end stomas after left-sided colorectal resection based on income, which went beyond case mix alone