Pathological Characterization Of IFNAR(-/-) Mice Infected With Bluetongue Virus Serotype 4

Bluetongue virus (BTV) replicates in lymphoid tissues where infected mononuclear leukocytes secrete proinflammatory and vasoactive mediators that can contribute to bluetongue (BT) pathogenesis. Using the well-characterized IFNAR(-/-) mice animal model, we have now studied the histopathology and dynamics of leukocyte populations in different target tissues (spleen, thymus, and lung) during BTV-4 infection by histological and immunohistochemical techniques. The spleen and thymus of BTV-4 infected mice showed severe lymphoid depletion on H&E stained sections. This finding was confirmed by IHC, showing moderate decreased immunopositivity against CD3 in the thymus, and scarce immunoreactivity against CD3 and CD79 in the rest of the white pulp in the spleen, together with an increase in MAC387 immunostaining. BTV-4 infection also induced the expression of active caspase-3 in the spleen, where apoptotic debris was observed by H&E. A dramatic increase in iNOS immunoreactivity associated to necrotic areas of the white pulp was observed, being less noticeable in the thymus and the lung. The induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines in tissues where BTV replicates was evaluated by measuring transcript levels by RT-qPCR. BTV-4 infection led to enhance transcription of IFN-γ, TNF, IL-6, IL-12-p40, and IL-1β mRNA in the thymus, spleen and lung, correlating with the level of virus replication in these tissues. Disease progression and pathogenesis in IFNAR(-/-) mice closely mimics hallmarks of bluetongue disease in ruminants. IFNAR(-/-) mice are a good choice to facilitate a faster advance in the field of orbiviruses.This work was supported by grants from the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT) (AGL2011-23506 and AGL-2014-57430-R)S

Responsabilidad Penal en el Delito de Contaminación Acústica en Lima Este 2019

La presente investigación titulada Responsabilidad Penal en el Delito de Contaminación Acústica en Lima Este 2019, tiene como objetivo estimar de qué manera nuestras autoridades judiciales, así como la acción sancionadora de la Fiscalía Especializada en Materia Ambiental (FEMA) que tienen como finalidad realizar los procesos de control, supervisión y sanción de los problemas que atentan contra la tranquilidad de las personas como son los ocasionados por los ruidos y vibraciones ocasionados por las actividades cotidianas en las familiar, comercios, industriales, centros de esparcimiento en los distritos del Agustino, San Juan de Lurigancho, Ate y Santa Anita. Se utiliza el método inductivo, analítico y de síntesis, tipo de investigación básico o aplicativo de nivel descriptivo en base a la aplicación de la entrevista a los operadores de justicia, autoridades y profesionales en la materia conformada por jueces, fiscales, abogados de la FEMA en Lima Centro, el análisis de los resultados permitió conocer la real situación de la aplicación de la ley en los casos de problemas ambientales. El OEFA (Organismo de Evaluación y Fiscalización Ambiental) indica que el problema de la contaminación ambiental que afecta a los ciudadanos crece de manera sostenida, en Lima Este, creció en 10% entre el 2013 y el 2015, además se presenta un exceso de los límites de decibeles que deben encontrarse en límite mínimo de 50 y un máximo de 70. En el pais se cuenta con la normativa y reglamento, mediante el cual se debe ejecutar las acciones de control de los diversos tipos de contaminación acústica (ruidos y vibraciones), los cuales deben ser ejecutados por los encargados de la justicia, para las sanciones respectivas

CO2-Optimization of Post-Tensioned Concrete Slab-Bridge Decks Using Surrogate Modeling

[EN] This paper deals with optimizing embedded carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions using surrogate modeling, whether it is the deck of a post-tensioned cast-in-place concrete slab bridge or any other design structure. The main contribution of this proposal is that it allows optimizing structures methodically and sequentially. The approach presents two sequential phases of optimization, the first one of diversification and the second one of intensification of the search for optimums. Finally, with the amount of CO2 emissions and the differentiating characteristics of each design, a heuristic optimization based on a Kriging metamodel is performed. An optimized solution with lower emissions than the analyzed sample is obtained. If CO2 emissions were to be reduced, design recommendations would be to use slendernesses as high as possible, in the range of 1/30, which implies a more significant amount of passive reinforcement. This increase in passive reinforcement is compensated by reducing the measurement of concrete and active reinforcement. Another important conclusion is that reducing emissions is related to cost savings. Furthermore, it has been corroborated that for a cost increase of less than 1%, decreases in emissions emitted into the atmosphere of more than 2% can be achieved.Grant PID2020-117056RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by "ERDF A way of making Europe".Yepes-Bellver, L.; Brun-Izquierdo, A.; Alcalá-González, J.; Yepes, V. (2022). CO2-Optimization of Post-Tensioned Concrete Slab-Bridge Decks Using Surrogate Modeling. Materials. 15(14):1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15144776115151

Quantum walks: decoherence and coin-flipping games

We investigate the global chirality distribution of the quantum walk on the line when decoherence is introduced either through simultaneous measurements of the chirality and particle position, or as a result of broken links. The first mechanism drives the system towards a classical diffusive behavior. This is used to build new quantum games, similar to the spin-flip game. The second mechanism involves two different possibilities: (a) All the quantum walk links have the same probability of being broken. (b) Only the quantum walk links on a half-line are affected by random breakage. In case (a) the decoherence drives the system to a classical Markov process, whose master equation is equivalent to the dynamical equation of the quantum density matrix. This is not the case in (b) where the asymptotic global chirality distribution unexpectedly maintains some dependence with the initial condition. Explicit analytical equations are obtained for all cases.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Microspheres-prime/rMVA-boost vaccination enhances humoral and cellular immune response in IFNAR(−/−) mice conferring protection against serotypes 1 and 4 of bluetongue virus

Bluetongue virus (BTV) is the causative agent of bluetongue disease (BT), which affects domestic and wild ruminants. At the present, 27 different serotypes have been documented. Vaccination has been demonstrated as one of the most effective methods to avoid viral dissemination. To overcome the drawbacks associated with the use of inactivated and attenuated vaccines we engineered a new recombinant BTV vaccine candidate based on proteins VP2, VP7, and NS1 of BTV-4 that were incorporated into avian reovirus muNS-Mi microspheres (MS-VP2/VP7/NS1) and recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (rMVA). The combination of these two antigen delivery systems in a heterologous prime-boost vaccination strategy generated significant levels of neutralizing antibodies in IFNAR(−/−) mice. Furthermore, this immunization strategy increased the ratio of IgG2a/IgG1 in sera, indicating an induction of a Th1 response, and elicited a CD8 T cell response. Immunized mice were protected against lethal challenges with the homologous serotype 4 and the heterologous serotype 1 of BTV. All these results support the strategy based on microspheres in combination with rMVAs as a promising multiserotype vaccine candidate against BTVThis work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (AGL2011-23506, AGL-2014-57430-R and BFU2013-43513-R). Financial support from the Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria (Centro singular de investigación de Galicia accreditation 2016–2019, ED431G/09) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is also gratefully acknowledgedS

Assessing civil engineering graduate students’ understanding of contemporary issues

[EN] The present study examines Civil Engineering graduate students' perception of current issues and their level of knowledge compared to other groups. For this purpose, Hans Rosling's Factfulness Quiz was employed, which measured their perspective on recurring topics in the media. Of the one hundred and sixteen students who responded to the survey, a 33.58% correct rate was observed, suggesting a need for more understanding of contemporary issues. However, the study also points out the need to implement improvement measures in training students to improve their competencies. From this new perspective, students would be more open to understanding the mechanisms that have led them to assimilate unfounded social beliefs. Therefore, graduate students must increase their knowledge about current issues to be more informed and aware of the limitations of interpreting complex issues.[ES] El presente estudio examina la percepción de los estudiantes de posgrado de Ingeniería Civil sobre los temas actuales y su nivel de conocimiento en comparación con otros grupos. Para ello, se empleó el Factfulness Quiz de Hans Rosling, el cual midió su perspectiva sobre temas recurrentes en los medios de comunicación. De los ciento dieciséis estudiantes que respondieron a la encuesta, se observó una tasa de acierto del 33,58%, lo que sugiere una falta de comprensión de los problemas contemporáneos. No obstante, el estudio también señala la necesidad de implementar medidas de mejora en la formación de los estudiantes para mejorar sus competencias en este ámbito. Desde esta nueva perspectiva, los estudiantes estarían más abiertos a comprender los mecanismos que les han llevado a asimilar creencias sociales infundadas. Por tanto, es crucial que los estudiantes de posgrado incrementen su conocimiento acerca de los problemas actuales para estar más informados y conscientes de las limitaciones que pueden surgir al interpretar temas complejos.Los autores agradecen el apoyo recibido por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Proyecto de Investigación PID2020-117056RB-I00).Yepes-Bellver, L.; Brun-Izquierdo, A.; Yepes, V. (2023). Evaluación de los conocimientos de los estudiantes de posgrado en ingeniería civil sobre temas de actualidad. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 534-544. https://doi.org/10.4995/INRED2023.2023.1651453454

Identification of Single Amino Acid Changes in the Rift Valley Fever Virus Polymerase Core Domain Contributing to Virus Attenuation In Vivo

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an arboviral zoonotic disease affecting many African countries with the potential to spread to other geographical areas. RVF affects sheep, goats, cattle and camels, causing a high rate of abortions and death of newborn lambs. Also, humans can be infected, developing a usually self-limiting disease that can turn into a more severe illness in a low percentage of cases. Although different veterinary vaccines are available in endemic areas in Africa, to date no human vaccine has been licensed. In previous works, we described the selection and characterization of a favipiravir-mutagenized RVFV variant, termed 40Fp8, with potential as a RVF vaccine candidate due to the strong attenuation shown in immunocompromised animal models. Compared to the parental South African 56/74 viral strain, 40Fp8 displayed 7 amino acid substitutions in the L-protein, three of them located in the central region corresponding to the catalytic core of the RNAdependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). In this work, by means of a reverse genetics system, we have analyzed the effect on virulence of these amino acid changes, alone or combined, both in vitro and in vivo. We found that the simultaneous introduction of two changes (G924S and A1303T) in the heterologous ZH548-RVFV Egyptian strain conferred attenuated phenotypes to the rescued viruses as shown in infected mice without affecting virus immunogenicity. Our results suggest that both changes induce resistance to favipiravir likely associated to some fitness cost that could be the basis for the observed attenuation in vivo. Conversely, the third change, I1050V, appears to be a compensatory mutation increasing viral fitness. Altogether, these results provide relevant information for the safety improvement of novel live attenuated RVFV vaccines.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

4D nanoimaging of early age cement hydration.

Despite a century of research, our understanding of cement dissolution and precipitation processes at early ages is very limited. This is due to the lack of methods that can image these processes with enough spatial resolution, contrast and field of view. Here, we adapt near-field ptychographic nanotomography to in situ visualise the hydration of commercial Portland cement in a record-thick capillary. At 19 h, porous C-S-H gel shell, thickness of 500 nm, covers every alite grain enclosing a water gap. The spatial dissolution rate of small alite grains in the acceleration period, ∼100 nm/h, is approximately four times faster than that of large alite grains in the deceleration stage, ∼25 nm/h. Etch-pit development has also been mapped out. This work is complemented by laboratory and synchrotron microtomographies, allowing to measure the particle size distributionswith time. 4D nanoimagingwill allow mechanistically study dissolution-precipitation processes including the roles of accelerators and superplasticizers.Financial support from PID2019-104378RJ-I00 research grant, which is co-funded by FEDER, is gratefully acknowledged. ToScA (United Kingdom) is gratefully acknowledged for awarding Jim Elliott Award to Shiva Shirani, I.R.S. is thankful for funding from PTA2019-017513–I

Determination of the characteristic inactivation fluence for SARS-CoV-2 under UV-C radiation considering light absorption in culture media

The optical absorption coefficient of culture media is critical for the survival analysis of pathogens under optical irradiation. The quality of the results obtained from experiments relies on the optical analysis of the spatial distribution of fluence which also depends on the geometry of the sample. In this contribution, we consider both the geometrical shape and the culture medium’s absorptivity to evaluate how the spatial distribution of optical radiation affects pathogens/viruses. In this work, we exposed SARS-CoV-2 to UV-C radiation (λ =254 nm) and we calculated – considering the influence of the optical absorption of the culture medium – a characteristic inactivation fluence of F i =4.7 J/m2 , or an equivalent 10% survival (D90 dose) of 10.8 J/m2. Experimentally, we diluted the virus into sessile drops of Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium to evaluate pathogen activity after controlled doses of UV irradiation. To validate the optical absorption mode, we carried out an additional experiment where we varied droplet size. Our model – including optical absorption and geometrical considerations – provides robust results among a variety of experimental situations, and represents our experimental conditions more accurately. These results will help to evaluate the capability of UV disinfecting strategies applied to a variety of everyday situations, including the case of micro-droplets generated by respiratory functions

マスメディアおよびソーシャルメディアの利用が震災復興に与える効果 -理論的枠組み-

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