Papel de las vesículas extracelulares liberadas por el tejido adiposo humano en la obesidad

La obesidad es una enfermedad metabólica que desencadena diferentes patologías, incluyendo el desarrollo de la diabetes tipo 2 (DM2), enfermedades cardiovasculares, la enfermedad del hígado graso no alcohólico (NAFLD) y ciertos tipos de cáncer, entre otras. En este contexto, surge el redescubrimiento de las vesículas extracelulares (VEs) y los exosomas como una nueva vía de comunicación celular a nivel fisiológico y patológico participando en la regulación del metabolismo del organismo, independiente de la vía clásica de secreción de hormonas y metabolitos. En la presente tesis doctoral, se ha optimizado el aislamiento y caracterizado las VEs liberadas por el tejido adiposo en el contexto de la obesidad, además de estudiar su rol funcional tanto en condiciones fisiológicas, como tras las alteraciones metabólicas asociadas a la obesidad. Por lo tanto, concluimos que las VEs liberadas por el tejido adiposo en el contexto de esta enfermedad, se postulan como estructuras de comunicación intercelular muy sofisticadas y dinámicas, que además de tener capacidad funcional induciendo o exacerbando la patología, portan diferentes biomarcadores de la obesidad y sus comorbilidades como la adiposidad visceral, o la resistencia a la insulina dependiendo de la localización anatómica y del estado metabólico de la célula/tejido de origen

Avances en la validación de un programa de reducción de estereotipos y prejuicios en personas mayores

As older adults have shown more problems to inhibit stereotyping and prejudice, the need to develop programs to reduce intergroup bias is more urgent in the advanced life stage. Our aim is to validation a multimedia application to improve the self-regulation of older people behaviour, and to evaluate the impact of potentially modulating variables of the intervention and its effects on prejudice. The intervention was aimed at reducing implicit prejudice and stereotyping, and explicit prejudice. Results of the multimedia application show the effectiveness of values as a modulating variable in the reduction of automatic prejudice levels.Las personas mayores han demostrado tener dificultad para inhibir estereotipos y prejuicios y es por ello que existe una necesidad creciente de desarrollar programas que reduzcan el sesgo intergrupal en las etapas avanzadas de la vida. En este trabajo se exponen los avances en la validación de la aplicación multimedia para mejorar la autorregulación de la conducta en personas mayores. La intervención tiene como objetivo reducir el prejuicio implícito y el estereotipo, así como el prejuicio explícito. Los resultados de la aplicación multimedia muestran su validación como medio y la efectividad de los valores como variable moduladora en la reducción de los niveles automáticos de prejuicio

Impacto de la educación en el emprendimiento. making-of de un análisis por grupos de discusión

This work belongs to a funded multidisciplinary RD project whose aim is to analyze the impact of secondary and higher education on firm creation as well as the curricular innovations needed to improve entrepreneurship among young people. In this paper we show the making-of of the conducted Discussion Group analysis, with the goal of analyzing the educational needs and expectations of young people related to entrepreneurship. Specifically, we present three Discussion Groups made of representatives of groups involved in firm creation: entrepreneurs, experts and Educatos-Counselors, with a total of 25 participants.La investigación que se presenta forma parte de un proyecto financiado de I+D de carácter interdisciplinar y coordinado que analiza el impacto de la Educación Secundaria y Superior en la creación de empresas y las innovaciones curriculares necesarias para mejorar el emprendimiento en los jóvenes de Castilla y León. En este trabajo presentamos el making-of del análisis por Grupos de Discusión (GD), cuyo objetivo es analizar las necesidades educativas y expectativas de los jóvenes en relación con el emprendimiento, através de tres GD formado por representantes de colectivos implicados con la creación de empresas: Emprendedores, Expertos y Educadores-Orientadores, con un total de 25 participantes.

Buenas Prácticas en los Programas Universitarios para Mayores en España

Ana Isabel Muñoz Alcón y Francisco Trullén Galve (Universidad Catolica de Ávila); María P. García de la Torre y Francisco Ascón Belver (Universidad de A Coruña); M. Isabel Luis Rico, Ángel Gañán Adánez, Tamara de la Torre Cruz, Vanesa Baños Martínez (Universidad de Burgos); Yolanda Lázaro Fernández y Jaime Cuenca Amigo (Universidad de Deusto); Camino Caballero Posado (Universidad de Extremadura); Mª Adoración Holgado Sánchez y Mª Teresa Ramos Bernal (Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca); Sara Serrate González, Javier Alba Barrios y José Manuel Muñoz Rodríguez; Miguel Ángel Nombela Castaño (Universidad de Vigo

Performance of a modular ton-scale pixel-readout liquid argon time projection chamber

The Module-0 Demonstrator is a single-phase 600 kg liquid argon time projection chamber operated as a prototype for the DUNE liquid argon near detector. Based on the ArgonCube design concept, Module-0 features a novel 80k-channel pixelated charge readout and advanced high-coverage photon detection system. In this paper, we present an analysis of an eight-day data set consisting of 25 million cosmic ray events collected in the spring of 2021. We use this sample to demonstrate the imaging performance of the charge and light readout systems as well as the signal correlations between the two. We also report argon purity and detector uniformity measurements and provide comparisons to detector simulations

The impact of University Intergenerationational activities in the quality of life of young and old people

El presente trabajo, teniendo como telón de fondo los retos y oportunidades que el envejecimiento está induciendo en las sociedades más avanzadas, aborda cualitativa y cuantitativamente el grado de influencia que las actividades intergeneracionales tiene en los dos grupos de interés más directos - personas mayores y jóvenes-. Se analiza el proceso de intervención y los resultados obtenidos, con un nivel de confianza del 95% y un margen de error de +/- 5%, de la experiencia llevada a cabo con 110 personas extraídas entre jóvenes universitarios y estudiantes de los programas universitarios para mayores.This paper, building on the challenges and opportunities that aging means in advanced societies, qualitatively and quantitatively studies the impact of intergenerational activities on two direct groups of interest – old and young people-. We analyze, with a confidence degree of 95% and an error margin of de +/- 5%, an experiment with 110 people including regular young university students and older life-long university students

Influencia de las actividades intergeneracionales universitarias en la calidad de vida de jóvenes y mayores

El presente trabajo, teniendo como telón de fondo los retos y oportunidades que el envejecimiento está induciendo en las sociedades más avanzadas, aborda cualitativa y cuantitativamente el grado de influencia que las actividades intergeneracionales tiene en los dos grupos de interés más directos - personas mayores y jóvenes-. Se analiza el proceso de intervención y los resultados obtenidos, con un nivel de confianza del 95% y un margen de error de +/- 5%, de la experiencia llevada a cabo con 110 personas extraídas entre jóvenes universitarios y estudiantes de los programas universitarios para mayores.This paper, building on the challenges and opportunities that aging means in advanced societies, qualitatively and quantitatively studies the impact of intergenerational activities on two direct groups of interest – old and young people-. We analyze, with a confidence degree of 95% and an error margin of de +/- 5%, an experiment with 110 people including regular young university students and older life-long university students

ALK-Fusion Transcripts Can Be Detected in Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) from Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer Cell Lines and Patient Plasma: Toward EV-Based Noninvasive Testing

Background: ALK rearrangements are present in 5% of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumors and identify patients who can benefit from ALK inhibitors. ALK fusions testing using liquid biopsies, although challenging, can expand the therapeutic options for ALK-positive NSCLC patients considerably. RNA inside extracellular vesicles (EVs) is protected from RNases and other environmental factors, constituting a promising source for noninvasive fusion transcript detection. Methods: EVs from H3122 and H2228 cell lines, harboring EML4-ALK variant 1 (E13; A20) and variant 3 (E6a/b; A20), respectively, were successfully isolated by sequential centrifugation of cell culture supernatants. EVs were also isolated from plasma samples of 16 ALK-positive NSCLC patients collected before treatment initiation. Results: Purified EVs from cell cultures were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), and flow cytometry. Western blot and confocal microscopy confirmed the expression of EV-specific markers as well as the expression of EML4-ALK-fusion proteins in EV fractions from H3122 and H2228 cell lines. In addition, RNA from EV fractions derived from cell culture was analyzed by digital PCR (dPCR) and ALK-fusion transcripts were clearly detected. Similarly, plasma-derived EVs were characterized by NTA, flow cytometry, and the ExoView platform, the last showing that EV-specific markers captured EV populations containing ALK-fusion protein. Finally, ALK fusions were identified in 50% (8/16) of plasma EV-enriched fractions by dPCR, confirming the presence of fusion transcripts in EV fractions. Conclusions: ALK-fusion transcripts can be detected in EV-enriched fractions. These results set the stage for the development of EV-based noninvasive ALK testing

COVID-19 in hospitalized HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients : A matched study

CatedresObjectives: We compared the characteristics and clinical outcomes of hospitalized individuals with COVID-19 with [people with HIV (PWH)] and without (non-PWH) HIV co-infection in Spain during the first wave of the pandemic. Methods: This was a retrospective matched cohort study. People with HIV were identified by reviewing clinical records and laboratory registries of 10 922 patients in active-follow-up within the Spanish HIV Research Network (CoRIS) up to 30 June 2020. Each hospitalized PWH was matched with five non-PWH of the same age and sex randomly selected from COVID-19@Spain, a multicentre cohort of 4035 patients hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19. The main outcome was all-cause in-hospital mortality. Results: Forty-five PWH with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 were identified in CoRIS, 21 of whom were hospitalized. A total of 105 age/sex-matched controls were selected from the COVID-19@Spain cohort. The median age in both groups was 53 (Q1-Q3, 46-56) years, and 90.5% were men. In PWH, 19.1% were injecting drug users, 95.2% were on antiretroviral therapy, 94.4% had HIV-RNA < 50 copies/mL, and the median (Q1-Q3) CD4 count was 595 (349-798) cells/μL. No statistically significant differences were found between PWH and non-PWH in number of comorbidities, presenting signs and symptoms, laboratory parameters, radiology findings and severity scores on admission. Corticosteroids were administered to 33.3% and 27.4% of PWH and non-PWH, respectively (P = 0.580). Deaths during admission were documented in two (9.5%) PWH and 12 (11.4%) non-PWH (P = 0.800). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that well-controlled HIV infection does not modify the clinical presentation or worsen clinical outcomes of COVID-19 hospitalization

How do women living with HIV experience menopause? Menopausal symptoms, anxiety and depression according to reproductive age in a multicenter cohort

CatedresBackground: To estimate the prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms and anxiety/depression and to assess the differences according to menopausal status among women living with HIV aged 45-60 years from the cohort of Spanish HIV/AIDS Research Network (CoRIS). Methods: Women were interviewed by phone between September 2017 and December 2018 to determine whether they had experienced menopausal symptoms and anxiety/depression. The Menopause Rating Scale was used to evaluate the prevalence and severity of symptoms related to menopause in three subscales: somatic, psychologic and urogenital; and the 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire was used for anxiety/depression. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) of association between menopausal status, and other potential risk factors, the presence and severity of somatic, psychological and urogenital symptoms and of anxiety/depression. Results: Of 251 women included, 137 (54.6%) were post-, 70 (27.9%) peri- and 44 (17.5%) pre-menopausal, respectively. Median age of onset menopause was 48 years (IQR 45-50). The proportions of pre-, peri- and post-menopausal women who had experienced any menopausal symptoms were 45.5%, 60.0% and 66.4%, respectively. Both peri- and post-menopause were associated with a higher likelihood of having somatic symptoms (aOR 3.01; 95% CI 1.38-6.55 and 2.63; 1.44-4.81, respectively), while post-menopause increased the likelihood of having psychological (2.16; 1.13-4.14) and urogenital symptoms (2.54; 1.42-4.85). By other hand, post-menopausal women had a statistically significant five-fold increase in the likelihood of presenting severe urogenital symptoms than pre-menopausal women (4.90; 1.74-13.84). No significant differences by menopausal status were found for anxiety/depression. Joint/muscle problems, exhaustion and sleeping disorders were the most commonly reported symptoms among all women. Differences in the prevalences of vaginal dryness (p = 0.002), joint/muscle complaints (p = 0.032), and sweating/flush (p = 0.032) were found among the three groups. Conclusions: Women living with HIV experienced a wide variety of menopausal symptoms, some of them initiated before women had any menstrual irregularity. We found a higher likelihood of somatic symptoms in peri- and post-menopausal women, while a higher likelihood of psychological and urogenital symptoms was found in post-menopausal women. Most somatic symptoms were of low or moderate severity, probably due to the good clinical and immunological situation of these women