MT1a mRNA Expression in Human Lung Cells (BEAS 2B) After Airborne PM10 and Copper Exposure: A Possible Biomarker for Asthma

Puerto Ricans have the highest prevalence, morbidity and mortality of asthma than any other ethnic group in the U.S. and can be triggered by different stimuli such as airborne Particle pollution (PM). PM transfers transition metals, including cooper, to the human airways generating reactive oxygen species (ROS). Metallothionein protein (MT1A) is a free radical scavenger expected to be induced in lung cells by PM exposure; however, this has never been proven nor demonstrated. The hypothesis involves the amounts of PM10 in 2004, which would be significantly higher in the urban sites during months of March and June, thereby increasing PM metal exposure and inducing MT1A gene at the urban site. PM10 filters for Urban (Guaynabo) and rural (Fajardo) site were provided by the PREQB. Organic extracts were prepared from filters by means of Soxhlet Extraction and heavy metals were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. BEAS-2B cells were cultured and exposed to PM10 during 4 hrs. RNA was isolated and relative mRNA levels of MT1A were determined by RT-PCR. Urban PM10 concentrations were 35 ug/m3 and 60ug/m3 for the months of March and June, respectively. Concentrations of copper for this urban PM10 were 29.6 ppm and 50.3 ppm, for March and June, respectively. Exposure to Cu leads to an MT1A expression in lung cells demonstrating its response to metal exposure. Cellular response for the mRNA expression of MT1A was greater in relative high inflammation markers than in PM10 samples

Movilizaciones y discursos sobre familia y matrimonio homosexual y su tratamiento en la prensa (Un bienio crucial en España: 2004-2005)

[ES]El 26 de febrero de 2004 se abrió en España la campaña para las elecciones generales que tendrían lugar el 14 de marzo de dicho año y que llevaría al Gobierno a Rodríguez Zapatero, del PSOE, que derrotó a Rajoy, candidato del PP. Las elecciones representaron una “coyuntura de oportunidad” para el movimiento LGTB que venía luchando desde mediados de los años 90 por la igualdad de derechos de todas las opciones sexuales y que en septiembre de 2001 había pasado de reivindicar la legalización de uniones de parejas del mismo sexo (parejas de hecho), a exigir la reforma del Código Civil para que fuera posible el matrimonio igualitario para homosexuales y heterosexuales. La universalización otorgada a la reivindicación por su incardinación en el marco legitimador de los Derechos Humanos y su presentación como un recurso modernizador de profundización de la ciudadanía democrática, junto con la estrategia reciente de diálogo o infiltración de activistas homosexuales en los partidos políticos y en los medios de comunicación, y la visibilización de la homosexualidad, rindió frutos. El programa electoral de José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, candidato del PSOE, incluyó la legalización del matrimonio homosexual, que se cumplió con la promulgación de La Ley 13/2005, de 1 de julio, por la que se modifica el Código Civil en materia de derecho a contraer matrimonio (BOE núm. 157, de 02-07-200), también denominada Ley de Reforma del Matrimonio. Pero esta conquista no fue fácil. Durante su gestación generó movilizaciones multitudinarias, discursos confrontados y fuertes tensiones políticas. En este proceso, la mediación informativa y /o moldeadora de opinión de los grandes periódicos nacionales, como “El País” y “El Mundo”, contribuyó globalmente a normalizar la homosexualidad y a reducir la homofobia, si bien las posturas de ambos diarios fueron diferentes en lo que concierne a la oportunidad del matrimonio homosexual, opción asumida por el Gobierno y “El País”, que respaldaría a Zapatero en avances y vacilaciones en materia de adopción, pero rechazada por “El Mundo”, que apostó por defender y abanderar la alternativa de la legalización de uniones civiles abiertas e igualitarias, ya abandonada por el colectivo LGTB. “El Mundo” realizó complejos malabarismos para presentarse como el defensor de la Iglesia y la militancia católica (homófoba) y de su intromisión en la esfera política, avalando su victimismo, mientras pedía al PP, al que respaldaba, moderación y respeto a los derechos de los homosexuales, incluido el derecho a la adopción, esforzándose en informar sobre unos y otros y en aparentar un contrabalanceo de espacios otorgados a voces enfrentadas. Utilizando la metodología del “análisis del discurso” (AD) esta investigación muestra la naturaleza y las peculiaridades instrumentales, objetivos e interacciones de los discursos sociales, religiosos, políticos y periodísticos generados sobre la familia y el matrimonio homosexual en un contexto enrarecido, descubriendo, más allá, o además, de sus condicionamientos circunstanciales y cristalizaciones endógenas, su naturaleza trasnacional; asimismo trata de explicar, desde la teoría de la movilización, el potencial y las características de los movimientos sociales en liza, así como las razones de la extraordinaria importancia que las parejas del mismo sexo llegarían a dar al matrimonio (en un momento en que la institución tradicional así denominada declinaba) y la extrema politización alcanzada por dicha reivindicación, convertida en una de las varias piezas de la confrontación Iglesia- Estado durante el Gobierno de Zapatero

Smart specialization for building up a regional innovation agenda: the case of San Luis Potosí, Mexico

The state of San Luis Potosí (SLP) is divided into four regions: “Altiplano, Centro, Huasteca and Media”. A large socioeconomic inequality is perceived among the regions, this is especially observed when comparing Centro with the other regions, mainly because Centro region shows greater economic dynamism and has a great amount of companies, educational institutions and research centers, which contributes to lower its socioeconomic lag. In order to reduce the social inequality and the economic development gap of SLP, a project for the construction of innovation agendas with a regional focus was formulated applying RIS3 methodology.Therefore, this article has as its main objective, to present and analyze the results of this project, through the identification of regional economic potential and their areas of smart specialization, as well as international technological trends in those areas. As an important component, a governance mechanism was organized in the four regions used to build consensus and legitimate the RIS3 process. In the framework of triple- helix participatory workshops, a portfolio of priority innovation projects was defined. This article offers an analysis of favorable factors and obstacles faced during the process; a series of recommendations for the promotion of regional innovation agendas (RIA) plus brief conclusions

La mediación computacional de Geogebra en el desarrollo de los niveles de razonamiento probabilístico en estudiantes de noveno grado.

En el presente trabajo se explora la manera en que estudiantes de noveno grado resuelven situaciones problema que involucran el concepto de probabilidad y de esta manera poder determinar el nivel de razonamiento probabilístico en el que se encuentran. El objetivo principal es identificar el impacto del uso de mediación computacional de GeoGebra en el desarrollo de los niveles de razonamiento probabilístico. Se utilizan los niveles de razonamiento para organizar las respuestas dadas por los estudiantes. En general los estudiantes a partir de la mediación computacional de GeoGebra, hojas de trabajo y la ayuda de los docentes muestran un avance notorio en lo que concierne a la solución de situaciones problema que involucran el concepto de probabilidad logrando ubicar a los estudiantes en un nivel de razonamiento superior al inicial.PregradoLICENCIADO(A) EN MATEMÁTICA Y FÍSIC

Stercoraceous perforation, rare but potentially fatal cause: case report

Stercoraceous perforation is an infrequent pathology but with high mortality rates, it is increasingly recognized as a consequence of chronic constipation, it occurs in elderly people, the diagnosis is a surgical challenge, sudden abdominal pain is the initial symptom associated with signs of peritoneal irritation and the diagnostic study of choice is tomography, the treatment of choice is early surgery, the prognosis is related to the patient's comorbidities. We present the clinical case and review of the subject of a 72-year-old woman who presented stercoraceous perforation secondary to chronic constipation, emergency surgery was performed with resection of the affected bowel, colostomy and Hartmann's pouch with favorable short-term results

Optimising urban routes as a factor to favour sustainable school transport

We thank Gema Zarrías Martos, Technical Topography Engineer, for her participation in developing this project. The authors also wish to thank the European Commission for supporting the project MySmart School, with Ref. 2015-1-FR01-KA201-015274 in the KA201 programme of strategic actions in Primary Education through those people who participated in this project: the public Vicente Blasco Ibáñez school, the Alginet Town Council and the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV). We particularly thank: (i) the management team, the collaborators from the school s Mother and Fathers Association, the tutors and students of grade 5 and 6 students from the public Vicente Blasco Ibáñez School in Alginet, especially for their enthusiasm, direct implication and active participation in this project; (ii) the Alginet Town Council for supporting the project and for implementing the proposed improvements; (iii) the UPV research team for its collaboration, help and for providing ideas.Mora Navarro, JG.; Femenia-Ribera, C.; Martínez Llario, JC.; Antequera Terroso, EB. (2018). Optimising urban routes as a factor to favour sustainable school transport. Journal of Transport Geography. 72:211-217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2018.09.001S2112177

Aplicación de localización para los cuerpos de socorro

Implementar una aplicación que facilite la localización de personas en estado de riesgo, peligro o contingencia por el cuerpo de Bomberos Voluntario en el municipio de San José Pinula del departamento de Guatemala, así determinar los impactos de la aplicación en las personas y Realizar un benchmarking del mercado para tomar puntos de diferenciación para el desarrollo de la aplicación

Comparison of Chemical and Mechanical Surface Treatments on Metallic Precision Spheres for Using as Optical Reference Artifacts

[EN] The improvement of industrial manufacturing processes requires measurement procedures and part inspection tasks to be faster and faster while remaining effective. In this sense, the capabilities of noncontact measuring systems are of great help, not only because of the great amount of data they provide but also for the ease of the integration of these systems as well as their automation, minimising the impact on the industry. This work presents a comparative study on the influence of two surface treatments performed on low-cost, high-precision metallic spheres on the suitability of these spheres to be used as artefacts for the calibration of optical sensors, specifically laser triangulation sensors. The first surface treatment is sandblasting (a mechanical process), whose effect has been studied and presented in previous work. The second treatment focused on in this paper is acid etching (a chemical process). The comparison has been performed by evaluating the same metrological characteristics on two identical groups of spheres of similar type (diameter and accuracy), each of which was subjected to a different treatment. It was necessary to obtain the reference values of the metrological parameters with high accuracy, which involved measuring the spheres with a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) by contact probing. Likewise, spheres were scanned by a laser triangulation sensor mounted on the same CMM. The results derived from both the contact and laser measurements and before and after treating the surfaces were used to compare four parameters: point density, sphere diameter, sphere form deviation, and standard deviation of the best-fit sphere to the corresponding point cloud. This research has revealed that acid etching produces better optical qualities on the surfaces than the mirror-like original ones, thus enhancing the laser sensor capturing ability. However, such chemical etching has affected the metrological characteristics of the spheres to a greater extent than that produced by sandblasting. This difference is due to the variability of the chemical etching, caused by the high aggressiveness of the acid, which makes the process very sensitive to the time of exposure to the acid and the orientations of the spheres in the bath.SIUniversity Institute of Industrial Technology of Asturias, IUTA, through the research project ref. SV-21-GIJON-1-06

Linfangioma quístico retroperitoneal. Presentación de un caso

RESUMENIntroducción: Los linfagiomas quísticos son lesiones benignas hamartomatosas del sistema vascular linfático muy poco frecuentes. La  variedad  retroperitoneal supone aproximadamente el 1  % de todos los linfangiomas; estos muestran un diapasón amplio en su presentación clínica.Presentación del caso: Se presenta el caso de un paciente masculino de 29 años que acudió por dolor abdominal epigástrico y en hipocondrio derecho de tres meses de evolución sin masa palpable, los estudios de imágenes practicados mostraron una lesión retroperitoneal en contacto con la cabeza del páncreas e independiente a esta; se realiza exéresis quirúrgica y biopsia que concluye linfangioma quístico retroperitoneal.Discusión: a pesar de la benignidad en su origen patológico, según el tamaño y la localización anatómica, pueden presentar severas complicaciones como la infección intraquistica, la peritonitis por perforación del proceso y la hemorragia,  elementos que evidencian la importancia de un diagnóstico precoz y cirugía temprana con exéresis completa.Conclusiones: nuestro paciente no presentó complicaciones mayores en el perioperatorio y ha tenido una evolución favorable libre de síntomas

Laser line scanner aptitude for the measurement of Selective Laser Melting parts

[EN] When looking for any metrological verification of parts manufactured by metal laser printing with optical equipment, it is necessary to ensure the traceability of the measurements that can be obtained. The difficulty of this process lies in the fact that these measurements are obtained on point clouds captured from surfaces with high form errors and poor surface finishes, even when this type of surface usually undergoes processes to improve the surface finish, such as sandblasting. This research focuses precisely on the analysis of the metrological suitability of a laser line scanner (laser triangulation sensor) on parts manufactured by Selective Laser Melting (SLM). The study starts from the design of a test part specifically oriented to the printing process with SLM metal powder bed. This test part was printed in 17-4PH stainless steel and then sandblasted. The test part was measured in a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM), obtaining reference GD&T values. The measurement was carried out under pre-sandblasting ("as built") and post-sandblasting conditions, thus providing interesting information about the erosion rate of this post process. A state-of-the-art laser sensor was employed for the metrological comparison, mounted on the same available CMM that was used for contact measurements. In this research three analyses were carried out: the quality of 3D metal printed parts with respect to CAD model, the effect of the sandblasting post-process, and the accuracy of the measurements obtained with the laser line sensor. In addition, this work conducts an in-depth study about the influence of point cloud treatment and filtering procedures, by comparing the filtering methods applied by different reverse engineering software packages. The study leads to the conclusion that filters based on the standard deviation of the point cloud are the best candidates in order to obtain laser measurements closer to the contact measurements.SIAuthors thank to the financial support provided by the Junta de Castilla y León (project LE027P17-FEDER funds) and also to two student grants awarded by the University Institute of Industrial Technology of Asturias (IUTA, ref. SV-19-GIJON-1-14) and by the Young researcher mobility program of SIF (Manufacturing Engineering Spanish Society)