Global maps of soil temperature.

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km <sup>2</sup> resolution for 0-5 and 5-15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km <sup>2</sup> pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world's major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (-0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications

Vanilloid receptor-1 regulates neurogenic inflammation in colon and protects mice from colon cancer

Neuroinflammation driven by the vanilloid-type ion channel receptor transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV-1) is suspected to play a role in the pathophysiology of inflammatory bowel disease. Because inflammatory bowel disease is known to elevate the risk of colon cancer, we examined postulated roles for TRPV-1-driven neuroinflammation in promoting colitis-associated and spontaneous colon cancer development. Using a well-established model of colitis-associated cancer (CAC), we found that mice genetically deficient in TRPV-1 showed a higher incidence and number of tumors in the distal colon. In like manner, genetic deficiency of TRPV-1 in the APC(Min/+) model of spontaneous colon cancer accentuated the number of colonic adenomas formed. Mechanistic analyses in the CAC model revealed an increased infiltration of inflammatory cells into the tumors along with elevated expression of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-11 and activation of the STAT3 and NF-κB signaling pathways. Notably, TPRV-1-deficient mice exhibited a defect in expression of the anti-inflammatory neuropeptides, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), and pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP) which contributed to the generation of a local proinflammatory environment. Together, our findings argue that by limiting neuroinflammatory processes, TRPV-1 exerts a protective role that restricts the initiation and progression of colon cancer. Cancer Res; 72(7); 1705-16. ©2012 AACR.Signal transduction in aging related disease

EXPERIENCIAS EN FLIPPED LEARNING

The present work describes experiences of teaching innovation, of the same profile and methodology, developed by a group of participating junior teachers under the expert guidance of senior teaching staff. The type of experience selected has been the design and execution of a flipped classroom, or inverted class. In addition, the corresponding evaluation of the action is included with an academic assessment or impact on learning, and an assessment of the experience by the students and teaching staff responsible. The results of five experiences with impact to more than 270 students of different academic profiles (three degrees and two Masters) and the quantified evaluations indicate a very positive assessment of this flipped learning methodology by the students and their desire for applicability. On the other hand, the teachers note that the FL experiences have successfully increased the learning of their students and declare a high evaluation of the experience for the improvement of their teaching competences.El presente trabajo describe unas experiencias de innovación docente, de igual perfil y metodología, desarrolladas por un conjunto de profesores noveles participantes bajo la tutela experta de profesorado senior. El tipo de experiencia seleccionada ha sido el diseño y ejecución de una flipped classroom, o clase invertida. Además, se incluye la correspondiente evaluación de la acción con una valoración académica o impacto en los aprendizajes, y una valoración de la experiencia por parte del alumnado y profesorado responsable. Los resultados de cinco experiencias con impacto a mas de 270 alumnos de distinto perfil académico (tres asignaturas de titulo de Grado y dos de Máster) y las evaluaciones cuantificadas indican una valoracion muy positiva de esta metodología flipped learning (FL) por los alumnos y su deseo de aplicabilidad. Por su parte, el profesorado constata que las experiencias FL han incrementado satisfactoriamente el aprendizaje de sus alumnos y declaran una alta valoración de la experiencia para la mejora de sus competencia docentes

Deregulation of miR-324/KISS1/kisspeptin in early ectopic pregnancy: mechanistic findings with clinical and diagnostic implications

BACKGROUND: Ectopic pregnancy is a life-threatening condition for which novel screening tools that would enable early accurate diagnosis would improve clinical outcomes. Kisspeptins, encoded by KISS1, play an essential role in human reproduction, at least partially by regulating placental function and possibly embryo implantation. Kisspeptin levels are elevated massively in normal pregnancy and reportedly altered in various gestational pathologic diseases. Yet, the pathophysiologic role of KISS1/kisspeptin in ectopic pregnancy has not been investigated previously. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes of KISS1/kisspeptin levels in ectopic pregnancy and their underlaying molecular mechanisms and to ascertain the diagnostic implications of these changes. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 122 women with normal pregnancy who underwent voluntary termination of pregnancy and 84 patients who experienced tubal ectopic pregnancy were recruited. Measurements of plasma kisspeptins and KISS1 expression analyses in human embryonic/placental tissue were conducted in ectopic pregnancy and voluntary termination of pregnancy control subjects during the early gestational window (<12 weeks). Putative microRNA regulators of KISS1 were predicted in silico, followed by expression analyses of selected microRNAs and validation of repressive interactions in vitro. Circulating levels of these microRNAs were also assayed in ectopic pregnancy vs voluntary termination of pregnancy. RESULTS: Circulating kisspeptins gradually increased during the first trimester of normal pregnancy but were reduced markedly in ectopic pregnancy. This profile correlated with the expression levels of KISS1 in human embryonic/placental tissue, which increased in voluntary termination of pregnancy but remained suppressed in ectopic pregnancy. Bioinformatic predictions and expression analyses identified miR-27b-3p and miR-324-3p as putative repressors of KISS1 in human embryonic/placental tissue at <12 weeks gestation, when expression of microRNAs was low in voluntary termination of pregnancy control subjects but significantly increased in ectopic pregnancy. Yet, a significant repressive interaction was documented only for miR-324-3p, occurring at the predicted 3'-UTR of KISS1. Interestingly, circulating levels of miR-324-3p, but not of miR-27b-3p, were suppressed distinctly in ectopic pregnancy, despite elevated tissue expression of the pre-microRNA. A decision-tree model that used kisspeptin and miR-324-3p levels was successful in discriminating ectopic pregnancy vs voluntary termination of pregnancy, with a receiver-operating characteristic area under the curve of 0.95+/-0.02 (95% confidence interval). CONCLUSION: Our results document a significant down-regulation of KISS1/kisspeptins in early stages of ectopic pregnancy via, at least partially, a repressive interaction with miR-324-3p. Our data identify circulating kisspeptins and miR-324-3p as putative biomarkers for accurate screening of ectopic pregnancy at early gestational ages

Quantum chemical study of Co 3+ spin states in LaCoO 3

Ab initio quantum-chemical cluster calculations are performed for the perovskite LaCoO 3. The main concern is to calculate the energy level ordering of different spin states of Co 3+ , which is an issue of great controversy for many years. The calculations performed for the trigonal lattice structure at T=5 K and 300 K, with the structural data taken from experiment, display that the low-spin (LS, S=0) ground state is separated from the first excited high-spin (HS, S=2) state by a gap >100 meV, while the intermediate-spin (IS, S=1) state is located at much higher energy ≈0.5 eV. We suggest that the local lattice relaxation around the Co 3+ ion excited to the HS state and the spin-orbit coupling reduce the spin gap to a value ~10 meV. Coupling of the IS state to the Jahn-Teller local lattice distortion is found to be rather strong and reduces its energy position to a value of 200 $\div$ 300 meV. Details of the quantum-chemical cluster calculation procedure and the obtained results are extensively discussed and compared with those reported earlier by other authors. Copyright EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010