Nanosized Calcium Phosphates as Novel Macronutrient Nano-Fertilizers

The need for qualitatively and quantitatively enhanced food production, necessary for feeding a progressively increasingWorld population, requires the adoption of new and sustainable agricultural protocols. Among them, limiting the waste of fertilizers in the environment has become a global target. Nanotechnology can offer the possibility of designing and preparing novel materials alternative to conventional fertilizers, which are more readily absorbed by plant roots and, therefore, enhance nutrient use efficiency. In this context, during the last decade, great attention has been paid to calcium phosphate nanoparticles (CaP), particularly nanocrystalline apatite and amorphous calcium phosphate, as potential macronutrient nano-fertilizers with superior nutrient-use efficiency to their conventional counterparts. Their inherent content in macronutrients, like phosphorus, and gradual solubility in water have been exploited for their use as slow P-nano-fertilizers. Likewise, their large (specific) surfaces, due to their nanometric size, have been functionalized with additional macronutrient-containing species, like urea or nitrate, to generate N-nano-fertilizers with more advantageous nitrogen-releasing profiles. In this regard, several studies report encouraging results on the superior nutrient use efficiency showed by CaP nano-fertilizers in several crops than their conventional counterparts. Based on this, the advances of this topic are reviewed here and critically discussed, with special emphasis on the preparation and characterization approaches employed to synthesize/functionalize the engineered nanoparticles, as well as on their fertilization properties in different crops and in different (soil, foliar, fertigation and hydroponic) conditions. In addition, the remaining challenges in progress toward the real application of CaP as nano-fertilizers, involving several fields (i.e., agronomic or material science sectors), are identified and discussed.Fondazione Cariplo 2016-0648University of Granada PPJIA2021.20Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship within the European Union H2020 programme H2020-MSCA-IF-2019-EF-ST-888972-PSustMO

A mesoporous Zr-based metal–organic framework driven by the assembly of an octatopic linker

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) based on high-connected nets are generally very attractive due to their combined robustness and porosity. Here, we describe the synthesis of BCN-348, a new high-connected Zr-MOF built from an 8-connected (8-c) cubic Zroxocluster and an 8-c organic linker. BCN-348 contains a minimal edge-transitive 3,4,8-c eps net, and combines mesoporosity with thermal and hydrolytic stability. Encouraging results from preliminary studies on its use as a catalyst for hydrolysis of a nerve-agent simulant suggest its potential as an agent for detoxification of chemical weapons and other pernicious compounds.European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under grant agreement No 101019003Catalan AGAUR (project 2021 SGR 00458)the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Spanish MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (Project PID2020-113608RB-I00ICN2 is supported by the Severo Ochoa Centres of Excellence programmeGrant CEX2021- 001214-S, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039.50110001103

A view on Fuzzy Systems for big data: progress and opportunities

Currently, we are witnessing a growing trend in the study and application of problems in the framework of Big Data. This is mainly due to the great advantages which come from the knowledge extraction from a high volume of information. For this reason, we observe a migration of the standard Data Mining systems towards a new functional paradigm that allows at working with Big Data. By means of the MapReduce model and its different extensions, scalability can be successfully addressed, while maintaining a good fault tolerance during the execution of the algorithms. Among the different approaches used in Data Mining, those models based on fuzzy systems stand out for many applications. Among their advantages, we must stress the use of a representation close to the natural language. Additionally, they use an inference model that allows a good adaptation to different scenarios, especially those with a given degree of uncertainty. Despite the success of this type of systems, their migration to the Big Data environment in the different learning areas is at a preliminary stage yet. In this paper, we will carry out an overview of the main existing proposals on the topic, analyzing the design of these models. Additionally, we will discuss those problems related to the data distribution and parallelization of the current algorithms, and also its relationship with the fuzzy representation of the information. Finally, we will provide our view on the expectations for the future in this framework according to the design of those methods based on fuzzy sets, as well as the open challenges on the topicSpanish Ministry of Science and Technology under project TIN2014-57251-P; the Andalusian Research Plan P11-TIC-7765; and both the University of Ja´en and Caja Rural Provincial de Ja´en under project UJA2014/06/15

Aligned copper nanowires as a cut-and-paste exclusive electrochemical transducer for free-enzyme highly selective quantification of intracellular hydrogen peroxide in cisplatin-treated cells

The role and reliable quantification of intracellular hydrogen peroxide during cancer therapy constitutes an unexplored and fascinating application. In this work, we report the fabrication of vertically aligned copper nanowires (v-CuNWs) using electrosynthesis on templates, and their application as a cut-and-paste exclusive and flexible electrochemical transducer. This easily adaptable electrodic platform is demonstrated for a fast, simple and free-enzyme selective quantification of intracellular hydrogen peroxide in Cisplatin-treated human renal HK-2 cells. The v-CuNWs sensor was compared with an HRP-enzyme-based biosensor showing excellent correlation and indicates the good selectivity and analytical performance of the v-CuNWs. This sensing approach opens novel avenues for monitoring cell death processes and shows the potential of H2O2 as a cellular damage biomarker, with a clear potency for further developments for in vitro diagnosis and its implication in cancer therapy.Comunidad de MadridMinisterio de Economía y CompetitividadMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovació

Assessment of oceanographic services for the monitoring of highly anthropised coastal lagoons: The Mar Menor case study

Ocean monitoring systems are designed for continuous monitoring to track their evolution and anticipate environmental issues. However, they are often based on IoT systems that offer little spatial coverage and are hard to maintain. Satellite remote sensing offers good geographical coverage but they also face several challenges to become a monitoring system. This paper introduces an easy-to-use software tool to crawl water-quality data from up to 6 satellite instruments from the ESA and NASA. Particularly, Chl-a data is deeply analyzed in terms of reliability and data coverage for a highly anthropised coastal lagoon (Mar Menor, Spain), where serious socio-environmental issues are happening. Our results show a good linear correlation between in situ data and SRS data, reaching values close to 0.9, and stating the relevance of organic matter inputs from ephemeral streams in Chl-a concentrations. Moreover, temporal granularity is increased from 5 to 1.5 days by combining SRS sources.Preprin

Short-Peptide Supramolecular Hydrogels for In Situ Growth of Metal–Organic Framework-Peptide Biocomposites

The development of bio-MOFs or MOF biocomposites through the combination of MOFs with biopolymers offers the possibility of expanding the potential applications of MOFs, making use of more environmentally benign processes and reagents and giving rise to a new generation of greener and more bio-oriented composite materials. Now, with the increasing use of MOFs for biotechnological applications, the development of new protocols and materials to obtain novel bio-MOFs compatible with biomedical or biotechnological uses is needed. Herein, and as a proof of concept, we have explored the possibility of using short-peptide supramolecular hydrogels as media to promote the growth of MOF particles, giving rise to a new family of bio-MOFs. Short-peptide supramolecular hydrogels are very versatile materials that have shown excellent in vitro and in vivo biomedical applications such as tissue engineering and drug delivery vehicles, among others. These peptides self-assemble by noncovalent interactions, and, as such, these hydrogels are easily reversible, being more biocompatible and biodegradable. These peptides can self-assemble by a multitude of stimuli, such as changes in pH, temperature, solvent, adding salts, enzymatic activity, and so forth. In this work, we have taken advantage of this ability to promote peptide self-assembly with some of the components required to form MOF particles, giving rise to more homogeneous and well-integrated composite materials. Hydrogel formation has been triggered using Zn2+ salts, required to form ZIF-8, and formic acid, required to form MOF-808. Two different protocols for the in situ MOF growth have been developed. Finally, the MOF-808 composite hydrogel has been tested for the decontamination of water polluted with phosphate ions as well as for the catalytic degradation of toxic organophosphate methyl paraoxon in an unbuffered solution.Grants PID2020-118498GB-I00PID2020-113608RB-I00MCIN/AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033,Projects P18-FR-3533 and A-FQM-340-UGR20 by FEDER/Junta de Andaluci ́ a-Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades (Spain)PPJIA2021.20 by Universidad de GranadaMarie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019-EF-ST-888972-PSustMOF)European Union H2020 programme and EU FEDERGrant PRE2018-083773MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033ESF Investing in your future”, Spain

Epigenetics in schizophrenia: a pilot study of global DNA methylation in different brain regions associated with higher cognitive functions

Attempts to discover genes that are involved in the pathogenesis of major psychiatric disorders have been frustrating and often fruitless. Concern is building about the need to understand the complex ways in which nature and nurture interact to produce mental illness. We analyze the epigenome in several brain regions from schizophrenic patients with severe cognitive impairment using high-resolution (450K) DNA methylation array. We identified 139 differentially methylated CpG sites included in known and novel candidate genes sequences as well as in and intergenic sequences which functions remain unknown. We found that altered DNA methylation is not restricted to a particular region, but includes others such as CpG shelves and gene bodies, indicating the presence of different DNA methylation signatures depending on the brain area analyzed. Our findings suggest that epimutations are not relatables between different tissues or even between tissues' regions, highlighting the need to adequately study brain samples to obtain reliable data concerning the epigenetics of schizophrenia

Comprehensive educational model based on Challenge-Based Learning for the improvement of competency performance

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". This phrase, attributed to Albert Einstein, contains a message that sums up what is happening in education systems. Fortunately, an increasing number of "madmen" are choosing to do something different to "innovate" in the teaching-learning process. This paper shows the influence of innovating in four key aspects that influence learning: instruction, methodology, space and time, if we want to improve competence performance and start to make the objectives of the Bologna Declaration a reality, through experiences carried out in the School of Industrial Engineering (EII) of the University of Extremadura

Biomarkers and polymorphisms in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors treated with sunitinib

Several circulating biomarkers and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been correlated with efficacy and tolerability to antiangiogenic agents. These associations remain unexplored in well-differentiated, metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors treated with the multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib. We have assessed the effect on tumor response at 6 months, overall survival, progression-free survival and safety of 14 SNPs, and 6 soluble proteins. Forty-three patients were recruited. Two SNPs in the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR-3) gene predicted lower overall survival: rs307826 with hazard ratio (HR) 3.67 (confidence interval [CI] 95%, 1.35-10.00) and rs307821 with HR 3.84 (CI 95%, 1.47-10.0). Interleukin-6 was associated with increased mortality: HR 1.06 (CI 95%, 1.01-1.12), and osteopontin was associated with shorter PFS: HR 1.087 (1.01-1.16), independently of Ki-67. Furthermore, levels of osteopontin remained higher at the end of the study in patients considered non-responders: 38.5 ng/mL vs. responders: 18.7 ng/mL, p-value=0.039. Dynamic upward variations were also observed with respect to IL-8 levels in sunitinib-refractory individuals: 28.5 pg/mL at baseline vs. 38.3 pg/mL at 3 months, p-value=0.024. In conclusion, two VEGFR-3 SNPs as well as various serum biomarkers were associated with diverse clinical outcomes in patients with well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors treated with sunitinib

Innovación y estrategias de intervención en acoso escolar

Los problemas de convivencia escolar, violencia escolar, bullying y cyberbullying, en los centros españoles son una realidad y, por tanto, es necesario que los futuros docentes cuenten con estrategias específicas para el abordaje de estas situaciones cuando se enfrenten a la realidad de las aulas. En este manual, profesionales del área de la convivencia escolar presentan las actuaciones, programas y herramientas disponibles que en estos momentos se están poniendo en práctica en los centros escolares con resultados positivos. Así, se pretende ampliar el conocimiento teórico-práctico en el ámbito de la convivencia, gestión de conflictos y violencia escolar.EducaciónPsicologí