Sulfidogenic Bioreactor-Mediated Formation of ZnS Nanoparticles with Antimicrobial and Photocatalytic Activity

The use of sulfidogenic bioreactors is a biotechnology trend to recover valuable metals such as copper and zinc as sulfide biominerals from mine-impacted waters. In the present work, ZnS nanoparticles were produced using “green” H2S gas generated by a sulfidogenic bioreactor. ZnS nanoparticles were physico-chemically characterized by UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy, TEM, XRD and XPS. The experimental results showed spherical-like shape nanoparticles with principal zinc-blende crystalline structure, a semiconductor character with an optical band gap around 3.73 eV, and fluorescence emission in the UV-visible range. In addition, the photocatalytic activity on the degradation of organic dyes in water, as well as bactericidal properties against several bacterial strains, were studied. ZnS nanoparticles were able to degrade methylene blue and rhodamine in water under UV radiation, and also showed high antibacterial activity against different bacterial strains including Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The results open the way to obtain valorous ZnS nanoparticles from the use of dissimilatory reduction of sulfate using a sulfidogenic bioreacto

Medidas de propiedades dieléctricas de materiales de construcción mediante elipsometría

A set of measurements of electromagnetic properties of building materials is presented in this work. The method is based on the measurement of the polarization state of the reflected signal from the material under study at a fixed angle of incidence. From the measured data, by using the Fresnel equations, it has been obtained the dielectric constant. Measurements were done by using two horn antennas at the frequency of 9 GHz. The obtained results are compared with the free space reflexion and transmission Fresnel method and other reflection methods based on a conductor waveguide. The method explained in this work can be used for other type of materials and its main advantage is the non-destructive character and the ease implementation

Methodology for an effective risk assessment of urban areas: progress and first results of the merisur project

The progress and results the MERISUR, Methodology for an Effective RISk assessment of URban areas, are presented. This project aims at developing an effective methodology for urban seismic risk assessment that provides solutions to some deficiencies detected after recent damaging events worldwide, including risk mitigation actions based on benefit/cost ratios. In a fisrt stage, the hazard and vulnerability models are developed and improved. A procedure to determine the hazard-controlling seismogenic fault, contsistent with different probability levels, is established. Methods to include active faults as individual sources and to consider near filed effects that significantly amplify ground motions are proposed. A more complete description of seismic vulnerability encompassing structural, non-structural components is accomplished. Vulnerability modifiers to incorporate effects or urban parameters on vulnerability classes are also quantified. A distinction is also made between damage to structural and non-structural building elements. For this purpose, a pushover analysis is specifically carried out to model building response and damage trends on non-structural elements. This gives the primary damage. In addition, the area covered by the resulting debris is also estimated both in inner spaces (within the building) and in the outer space (public roads and streets). In this way, a volume of debris will be associated to each area unit of the city, and the potential damage to persons and elements exposed, such as urban furniture and vehicles, will be assessed. This constitutes the secondary damage. A static level of occupation (building, urban furniture, etc.) and a dynamic level of occupation (persons, vehicles) will be assigned to each area unit of the city, hereby defining the exposure in time and space. Earthquake losses related to primary damage of building components and to secondary damage (such as urban furniture and vehicles) will be also assessed. Cost/benefit ratios between ex ante risk mitigation measurements will be developed in order to decide whether risk transfer or risk retention is preferable for different risk scenarios. This analysis will confer effectiveness to the results of a seismic risk study. Overall, the estimate of earthquake losses and cost/benefit ratios are topics with little presence in the scientific literature concerning damaging earthquakes in Spain. Thus, the results of this study will provide effective solutions to the challenge to society tackled in this proposal

Scientific output on transsexuality in the Spanish biomedical literature: Bibliometric and content analysis (1973-2011)

Objetivo: Explorar la evolución del conocimiento científico sobre transexualidad durante los últimos 40 años, a través de un análisis bibliométrico y de contenido de la producción de la literatura biomédica española sobre la transexualidad entre los años 1973 y 2011. Método: Descriptivo y transversal. Universo: artículos biomédicos españoles sobre transexualidad publicados entre 1973 y 2011. Fuente: ÍndiceMédico Español e ISOC-Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades. Análisis: bibliométrico y de contenido de las publicaciones biomédicas. Resultados: 65 artículos biomédicos analizados. Entre 1973 y 1984, en España, el conocimiento sobre transexualidad se produce y circula en revistas médicas. En 1996 se inicia una década de gran productividad, y en los años siguientes el número de revistas que publican sobre transexualidad se multiplica. Hasta 2006, año de mayor productividad biomédica, los discursos biomédicos reproducen representaciones de la transexualidad ancladas en el determinismo biológico. En el período 2008-2011, los y las profesionales incorporan teorías feministas y perspectivas sociales en sus discursos. Conclusiones: En el último cuarto del siglo xx, el discurso médico dominante ha considerado las manifestaciones de las personas transexuales desde una perspectiva biologicista que concibe la transexualidad como un error de correspondencia sexo/género. En los últimos años, la aparición de nuevas categorías de identidad y la reflexión desde posturas no esencialistas y normativas del género favorece la gestión clínica de la transexualidad.Objective: To explore the scientific output on transsexuality in the Spanish biomedical literature between 1973 and 2011, through bibliometric and content analyses. Methods: We carried out a descriptive, cross-sectional study of Spanish biomedical articles on transsexuality published between 1973 and 2011. The data sources consisted of Índice Médico Español and ISOC-Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades. Bibliometric and content analyses were performed. Results: A total of 65 papers were analyzed. Knowledge on transsexuality in Spain began to appear in medical journals between 1973 and 1984. A decade of intense productivity began in 1996 and the number of journals publishing articles on transsexuality multiplied in the following years. Until 2006, the year with the most biomedical productivity, biomedical discourses reproduced representations of transsexuality anchored in biological determinism. From 2008-2011, professionals writing on the topic incorporated feminist theories and social perspectives in their discourses. Conclusions: In the last quarter of the twentieth century, the dominant medical discourse considered manifestations of transsexual people from a biologist perspective that conceives transsexuality as a configuration mismatch between sex and gender. The emergence of new identity categories and medical reflection from non-essentialist and non-normative gender perspectives has improved the clinical management of transsexuality

Long-Term Real-World Effectiveness and Safety of Ustekinumab in Crohn’s Disease Patients: The SUSTAIN Study

Background Large real-world-evidence studies are required to confirm the durability of response, effectiveness, and safety of ustekinumab in Crohn’s disease (CD) patients in real-world clinical practice. Methods A retrospective, multicentre study was conducted in Spain in patients with active CD who had received ≥1 intravenous dose of ustekinumab for ≥6 months. Primary outcome was ustekinumab retention rate; secondary outcomes were to identify predictive factors for drug retention, short-term remission (week 16), loss of response and predictive factors for short-term efficacy and loss of response, and ustekinumab safety. Results A total of 463 patients were included. Mean baseline Harvey-Bradshaw Index was 8.4. A total of 447 (96.5%) patients had received prior biologic therapy, 141 (30.5%) of whom had received ≥3 agents. In addition, 35.2% received concomitant immunosuppressants, and 47.1% had ≥1 abdominal surgery. At week 16, 56% had remission, 70% had response, and 26.1% required dose escalation or intensification; of these, 24.8% did not subsequently reduce dose. After a median follow-up of 15 months, 356 (77%) patients continued treatment. The incidence rate of ustekinumab discontinuation was 18% per patient-year of follow-up. Previous intestinal surgery and concomitant steroid treatment were associated with higher risk of ustekinumab discontinuation, while a maintenance schedule every 12 weeks had a lower risk; neither concomitant immunosuppressants nor the number of previous biologics were associated with ustekinumab discontinuation risk. Fifty adverse events were reported in 39 (8.4%) patients; 4 of them were severe (2 infections, 1 malignancy, and 1 fever). Conclusions Ustekinumab is effective and safe as short- and long-term treatment in a refractory cohort of CD patients in real-world clinical practice

Using Interpretable Machine Learning to Identify Baseline Predictive Factors of Remission and Drug Durability in Crohn’s Disease Patients on Ustekinumab

Ustekinumab has shown efficacy in Crohn's Disease (CD) patients. To identify patient profiles of those who benefit the most from this treatment would help to position this drug in the therapeutic paradigm of CD and generate hypotheses for future trials. The objective of this analysis was to determine whether baseline patient characteristics are predictive of remission and the drug durability of ustekinumab, and whether its positioning with respect to prior use of biologics has a significant effect after correcting for disease severity and phenotype at baseline using interpretable machine learning. Patients' data from SUSTAIN, a retrospective multicenter single-arm cohort study, were used. Disease phenotype, baseline laboratory data, and prior treatment characteristics were documented. Clinical remission was defined as the Harvey Bradshaw Index <= 4 and was tracked longitudinally. Drug durability was defined as the time until a patient discontinued treatment. A total of 439 participants from 60 centers were included and a total of 20 baseline covariates considered. Less exposure to previous biologics had a positive effect on remission, even after controlling for baseline disease severity using a non-linear, additive, multivariable model. Additionally, age, body mass index, and fecal calprotectin at baseline were found to be statistically significant as independent negative risk factors for both remission and drug survival, with further risk factors identified for remission

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of the Largest HIV-1 CRF02_AG Outbreak in Spain: Evidence for Onward Transmissions

Background and Aim: The circulating recombinant form 02_AG (CRF02_AG) is the predominant clade among the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) non-Bs with a prevalence of 5.97% (95% Confidence Interval-CI: 5.41–6.57%) across Spain. Our aim was to estimate the levels of regional clustering for CRF02_AG and the spatiotemporal characteristics of the largest CRF02_AG subepidemic in Spain.Methods: We studied 396 CRF02_AG sequences obtained from HIV-1 diagnosed patients during 2000–2014 from 10 autonomous communities of Spain. Phylogenetic analysis was performed on the 391 CRF02_AG sequences along with all globally sampled CRF02_AG sequences (N = 3,302) as references. Phylodynamic and phylogeographic analysis was performed to the largest CRF02_AG monophyletic cluster by a Bayesian method in BEAST v1.8.0 and by reconstructing ancestral states using the criterion of parsimony in Mesquite v3.4, respectively.Results: The HIV-1 CRF02_AG prevalence differed across Spanish autonomous communities we sampled from (p &lt; 0.001). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 52.7% of the CRF02_AG sequences formed 56 monophyletic clusters, with a range of 2–79 sequences. The CRF02_AG regional dispersal differed across Spain (p = 0.003), as suggested by monophyletic clustering. For the largest monophyletic cluster (subepidemic) (N = 79), 49.4% of the clustered sequences originated from Madrid, while most sequences (51.9%) had been obtained from men having sex with men (MSM). Molecular clock analysis suggested that the origin (tMRCA) of the CRF02_AG subepidemic was in 2002 (median estimate; 95% Highest Posterior Density-HPD interval: 1999–2004). Additionally, we found significant clustering within the CRF02_AG subepidemic according to the ethnic origin.Conclusion: CRF02_AG has been introduced as a result of multiple introductions in Spain, following regional dispersal in several cases. We showed that CRF02_AG transmissions were mostly due to regional dispersal in Spain. The hot-spot for the largest CRF02_AG regional subepidemic in Spain was in Madrid associated with MSM transmission risk group. The existence of subepidemics suggest that several spillovers occurred from Madrid to other areas. CRF02_AG sequences from Hispanics were clustered in a separate subclade suggesting no linkage between the local and Hispanic subepidemics

Ascorbate-dependent decrease of the mucosal immune inflammatory response to gliadin in coeliac disease patients

[Background]: The IL-15/NF-κB axis has an important role in coeliac disease (CD) and may represent a molecular target for immunomodulation. Ascorbate (vitamin C) is known to show inhibitory effects on NF-κB. Therefore, we studied if ascorbate supplementation to gliadin gliadin-stimulated biopsy culture could down-regulate the mucosal immune response to gliadin in CD. [Methods]: Duodenal biopsy explants from treated CD patients were gliadin challenged in vitro (100 οg/ml) with and without 20. mM ascorbate. An extra tissue explant in basal culture was used as internal control. Secretion levels of nitrites (3. h), and IFNγ, TNFα, IFNα, IL-17, IL-13, and IL-6 (24. h) were measured on the supernatants. IL-15 was assayed by western-blot on whole protein duodenal explants. [Results]: The addition of ascorbate to in vitro culture gliadin-challenged biopsies blocked the secretion of nitrites (p= 0.013), IFNγ (p= 0.0207), TNFα (p= 0.0099), IFNα (p= 0.0375), and IL-6 (p= 0.0036) compared to samples from non-ascorbate supplemented culture. Cytokine secretion was downregulated by ascorbate even to lower values than those observed in basal cultures (IFNγ: p= 0.0312; TNFα: p= 0.0312; IFNα: p= 0.0312; and IL-6: p= 0.0078). Gliadin-challenge induced IL-15 production in biopsies from treated CD patients, while the addition of ascorbate to culture medium completely inhibited IL-15 production. Moreover, the inhibition of IL-15 by ascorbate took place even in the only treated CD-patient who had basal IL-15 production. [Conclusions]: Ascorbate decreases the mucosal inflammatory response to gluten in an intestinal biopsy culture model, so it might have a role in future supplementary therapy in CD. © 2010 SEICAP.Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU, AP2002-2696), Junta de Castilla y León (FPI fellowship), Universidad de Valladolid (FPI fellowship), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spanish Ministry of Health (PI 070244 and CES08/016), Fundación IECSCYL, Junta de Castilla y León (SAN-GRS232/B/08), and Phadia Spain.Peer Reviewe