Barrio de las Termas (Insula I) Bilbilis (Calatayud-Zaragoza). Campaña 2007

Nombre del yacimiento: Bilbilis (Calatayud-Zaragoza).Adscripción cultural: Celtíbero-Romano.Año de actuación: 2007.Director: Manuel Martín-Bueno – Carlos Sáenz Preciado.Organismo financiador: Dpto. de Cultura y Turismo del Gobierno de Aragón. Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Calatayud

Niveles de fondo geoquímico e influencia del marco geológico en las concentraciones edafogeoquímicas de base de suelos seleccionados de Castilla-La Mancha

Geochemical baselines are needed for environmental legislation and political decision-making, especially in the assessment of contaminated soil. Although the term «geochemical baseline» appears in the international geochemical studies and programs, probably it has never been well defined. A geochemical baseline for an element refers to its natural variations in concentration in the superficial environment. In order to answer questions such as «what is the natural concentration of trace elements in rocks and soils of Castilla-La Mancha region?» this work seeks to establish the geochemical background, baseline pedo-geochemical concentrations and reference values for the Castilla-La Mancha region. Trace element concentrations in the study area were similar to those analysed in other areas of Spain and the world. Their baseline concentrations depend mainly on the geochemical characteristics of the bed rocks.La determinación de las concentraciones geoquímicas de base es necesaria para la legislación ambiental y toma de decisiones, especialmente en la evaluación de suelos contaminados. Aunque la terminología sobre concentraciones geoquímicas (variaciones naturales en la concentración en el medio ambiente de superficie), aparece en los estudios geoquímicos y programas internacionales, probablemente, nunca ha sido bien definida. Para contestar a cuestiones como ¿cuál es la concentración natural de una serie de elementos traza en suelos y rocas de Castilla-La Mancha?, se determinan el fondo geoquímico y las concentraciones edafogeoquímicas de base, a la vez que se calculan los valores umbrales de los mismos. Todos los elementos traza muestran concentraciones promedio similares con los valores de referencia para los suelos de otras zonas de España (Galicia, Andalucía, Madrid, etc.), la Unión Europea y el mundo. Los patrones de distribución de las concentraciones de los elementos son principalmente influenciados por la naturaleza geoquímica de la roca

Measurement of single electron emission in two-phase xenon

We present the first measurements of the electroluminescence response to the emission of single electrons in a two-phase noble gas detector. Single ionization electrons generated in liquid xenon are detected in a thin gas layer during the 31-day background run of the ZEPLIN-II experiment, a two-phase xenon detector for WIMP dark matter searches. Both the pressure dependence and magnitude of the single-electron response are in agreement with previous measurements of electroluminescence yield in xenon. We discuss different photoionization processes as possible cause for the sample of single electrons studied in this work. This observation may have implications for the design and operation of future large-scale two-phase systems.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

La Casa del Ninfeo de Bilbilis (Calatayud-Zaragoza). Trabajos arqueológicos de la Escuela Taller de Restauración de Aragón (Campaña 2006)

Nombre del yacimiento: Bilbilis (Calatayud-Zaragoza). Casa Ninfeo. Adscripción cultural: Romano.Año de actuación: 2006 (Campañas XXXVIII-XXXIX. No Exp. 111/2006). Dirección: J. Carlos Sáenz Preciado. Organismo financiador: Dpto. de Educación, Cultura y Deporte del Gobierno de Aragón (Escuela Taller de Restauración de Aragón) - Instituto Aragonés de Empleo

Microarray profiling of mononuclear peripheral blood cells identifies novle candidate genes related to chemoradiation response in rectal cancer

Preoperative chemoradiation significantly improves oncological outcome in locally advanced rectal cancer. However there is no effective method of predicting tumor response to chemoradiation in these patients. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells have emerged recently as pathology markers of cancer and other diseases, making possible their use as therapy predictors. Furthermore, the importance of the immune response in radiosensivity of solid organs led us to hypothesized that microarray gene expression profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells could identify patients with response to chemoradiation in rectal cancer. Thirty five 35 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer were recruited initially to perform the study. Peripheral blood samples were obtained before neaodjuvant treatment. RNA was extracted and purified to obtain cDNA and cRNA for hybridization of microarrays included in Human WG CodeLink bioarrays. Quantitative real time PCR was used to validate microarray experiment data. Results were correlated with pathological response, according to Mandard´s criteria and final UICC Stage (patients with tumor regression grade 1–2 and downstaging being defined as responders and patients with grade 3–5 and no downstaging as non-responders). Twenty seven out of 35 patients were finally included in the study. We performed a multiple t-test using Significance Analysis of Microarrays, to find those genes differing significantly in expression, between responders (n = 11) and non-responders (n = 16) to CRT. The differently expressed genes were: BC 035656.1, CIR, PRDM2, CAPG, FALZ, HLA-DPB2, NUPL2, and ZFP36. The measurement of FALZ (p = 0.029) gene expression level determined by qRT-PCR, showed statistically significant differences between the two groups. Gene expression profiling reveals novel genes in peripheral blood samples of mononuclear cells that could predict responders and non-responders to chemoradiation in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. Moreover, our investigation added further evidence to the importance of mononuclear cells’ mediated response in the neoadjuvant treatment of rectal cancer.This investigation was supported by the Fundación Investigación Biomédica Mutua Madrileña. MC, CC and AB were supported by projects P08-TIC-4299 and CTS2200 of Junta de Andalucía, TIN2009-13489 of DGICT, Madrid, and GREIB PYR_2010-02 and 2010_05 of University of Granada

Baseline immunophenotypic profile of bone marrow leukemia cells in acute myeloid leukemia with nucleophosmin-1 gene mutation: a EuroFlow study

Molecular techniques are the gold standard method for the diagnosis of AML with mutated nucleophosmin gene (NPM1mut). However, their worldwide availability is limited and they provide limited insight into disease heterogeneity. Hence, surrogate markers of NPM1mut are used for fast diagnostic screening of the disease [1], including, among others, immunohistochemical detection of cytoplasmic NPM1 (NPM1c) [2], cup-like nuclear morphology [3], normal karyotype, and/or recurrent flow cytometry profiles -e.g., CD34 negativity, and/or a phenotype resembling acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL)- [4]. Nevertheless, some of these methods are also not widely available, they show limited sensitivity (e.g., low or absent NPM1c expression, particularly among monoblastic/monocytic AML-NPM1mut) [5], frequently lack standardized procedures [1], and they might also bring limited information about disease heterogeneity.This study has been funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) through the project PI21/01115 and co-funded by the European Union and the grant of CIBERONC of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Madrid, Spain, and FONDOS FEDER (no. CB16/12/00400); MR was supported by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, grant number NU20J-07-00028.Peer reviewe

Expression Profiling of Rectal Tumors Defines Response to Neoadjuvant Treatment Related Genes

To date, no effective method exists that predicts the response to preoperative chemoradiation (CRT) in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). Nevertheless, identification of patients who have a higher likelihood of responding to preoperative CRT could be crucial in decreasing treatment morbidity and avoiding expensive and time-consuming treatments. The aim of this study was to identify signatures or molecular markers related to response to pre-operative CRT in LARC. We analyzed the gene expression profiles of 26 pre-treatment biopsies of LARC (10 responders and 16 non-responders) without metastasis using Human WG CodeLink microarray platform. Two hundred and fifty seven genes were differentially over-expressed in the responder patient subgroup. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis revealed a significant ratio of differentially expressed genes related to cancer, cellular growth and proliferation pathways, and c-Myc network. We demonstrated that high Gng4, c-Myc, Pola1, and Rrm1 mRNA expression levels was a significant prognostic factor for response to treatment in LARC patients (p<0.05). Using this gene set, we were able to establish a new model for predicting the response to CRT in rectal cancer with a sensitivity of 60% and 100% specificity. Our results reflect the value of gene expression profiling to gain insight about the molecular pathways involved in the response to treatment of LARC patients. These findings could be clinically relevant and support the use of mRNA levels when aiming to identify patients who respond to CRT therapy.C, CC and AB were supported by projects CTS2200 and PI-0710-2013 of Junta de Andalucía, TIN2013-41990-R of Programa Estatal I+D+i MINECO, and GREIB PYR_2010-02 and 2010_05 of University of Granada

Properties of Iron Primary Cosmic Rays: Results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

We report the observation of new properties of primary iron (Fe) cosmic rays in the rigidity range 2.65 GV to 3.0 TV with 0.62 million iron nuclei collected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment on the International Space Station. Above 80.5 GV the rigidity dependence of the cosmic ray Fe flux is identical to the rigidity dependence of the primary cosmic ray He, C, and O fluxes, with the Fe/O flux ratio being constant at 0.155±0.006. This shows that unexpectedly Fe and He, C, and O belong to the same class of primary cosmic rays which is different from the primary cosmic rays Ne, Mg, and Si class

Properties of Heavy Secondary Fluorine Cosmic Rays: Results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

Precise knowledge of the charge and rigidity dependence of the secondary cosmic ray fluxes and the secondary-to-primary flux ratios is essential in the understanding of cosmic ray propagation. We report the properties of heavy secondary cosmic ray fluorine F in the rigidity R range 2.15 GV to 2.9 TV based on 0.29 million events collected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment on the International Space Station. The fluorine spectrum deviates from a single power law above 200 GV. The heavier secondary-to-primary F/Si flux ratio rigidity dependence is distinctly different from the lighter B/O (or B/C) rigidity dependence. In particular, above 10 GV, the F/SiB/O ratio can be described by a power law Rδ with δ=0.052±0.007. This shows that the propagation properties of heavy cosmic rays, from F to Si, are different from those of light cosmic rays, from He to O, and that the secondary cosmic rays have two classes