A computational framework for the comparative analysis of glioma models and patients

Diffuse Gliome bei Erwachsenen sind aggressive, unheilbare Hirntumore. Humanisierte Mausmodelle helfen, molekulare Mechanismen zu verstehen und therapeutische Ziele zu identifizieren, aber der Vergleich mit Proben von Patienten gestaltet sich schwierig. Ich habe eine computergestützte Plattform namens CAPE entwickelt, um Tumormodelle und Patienten-Expressionsprofile mit Hilfe der nicht-negativen Matrixfaktorisierung zu vergleichen. Die Anwendung von CAPE auf humanisierte Maus-Gliom-Avatar-Modelle (GSA) und diffuse Glioma-Patienten zeigte eine starke Übereinstimmung zwischen den Modellen und dem proneuralen Glioblastom-Subtyp. CAPE hat gezeigt, dass durch die Transplantation der Erwerb neuer Tumorzustände in den Modellen verbessert wurde. Durch die Kombination von reporterbasiertem genetischem Tracing und CAPE zeigte sich, dass eine Untergruppe der in vivo GSA-Populationen mit Patienten zusammenfällt, die astrozytische Merkmale aufweisen. Die Behandlung von GSA-Modellen in vitro mit menschlichem Serum, TNFα oder ionisierender Strahlung führte zu einer Verschiebung in den mesenchymalen Zustand. Einzelzell-Transkriptomik annotierte GSA-Populationen unter verschiedenen Bedingungen und zeigte alle Glioblastomzustände in vivo und bei Aktivierung durch externe Faktoren. Der Vergleich von GSA-Einzelzellpopulationen und Patienten bestätigte diese Identitäten. Die Studie etablierte einen umfassenden Rahmen für die Erprobung und Validierung von Verbesserungen der Tumormodelle, um Patienten besser abzubilden, und erweiterte das Verständnis der Tumorbiologie und Ansprechen auf Therapie.Adult-type diffuse gliomas are aggressive, incurable adult brain cancers. Humanized mouse models help understand molecular mechanisms and identify therapeutic targets, but comparing them with patient samples is difficult. I developed a computational framework, CAPE, for comparing tumor models and patient expression profiles using non-negative matrix factorization. Applying CAPE to humanized mouse glioma subtype avatar models (GSA) and adult-type diffuse glioma patients revealed a strong resemblance between models and proneural glioblastoma subtype. CAPE showed that transplantation improved new tumor state acquisition in models. Combining genetic tracing reporter phenotypic selection with CAPE showed a subset of in vivo GSA populations clustering with patients having astrocytic-like identities. In vitro treatment of GSA models with human serum, TNFα, or ionizing radiation led to a mesenchymal state shift upon reporter selection. Single-cell transcriptomics annotated GSA populations in different conditions, revealing all glioblastoma states in vivo and upon external factor activation. Comparing GSA single-cell populations and patients confirmed these identities. The study established a comprehensive framework for testing and validating tumor model improvements to resemble patients, advancing tumor biology and treatment response understanding

Quorum Quenching Strains Isolated from the Microbiota of Sea Anemones and Holothurians Attenuate Vibrio corallilyticus Virulence Factors and Reduce Mortality in Artemia salina

The English text was corrected by Michael O'Shea. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness (grant number PID2019-106704RB-100/AEI/10.13039/501100011033). Jose Carlos Reina is supported by an FPU fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (fellowship number FPU15/01717).Interference with quorum-sensing (QS) intercellular communication systems by the enzymatic disruption of N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) in Gram-negative bacteria has become a promising strategy to fight bacterial infections. In this study, seven strains previously isolated from marine invertebrates and selected for their ability to degrade C6 and C10-HSL, were identified as Acinetobacter junii, Ruegeria atlantica, Microbulbifer echini, Reinheimera aquimaris, and Pseudomonas sihuiensis. AHL-degrading activity against a wide range of synthetic AHLs were identified by using an agar well diffusion assay and Agrobacterium tumefaciens NTL4 and Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and VIR07 as biosensors. High-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) analysis indicated that this activity was not due to an AHL lactonase. All the strains degraded Vibrio coralliilyticus AHLs in coculture experiments, while some strains reduced or abolished the production of virulence factors. In vivo assays showed that strains M3-111 and M3-127 reduced this pathogen’s virulence and increased the survival rate of Artemia salina up to 3-fold, indicating its potential use for biotechnological purposes. To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe AHLdegrading activities in some of these marine species. These findings highlight that the microbiota associated with marine invertebrates constitute an important underexplored source of biological valuable compounds.Spanish Government PID2019-106704RB-100/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 FPU15/0171

Which tone-mapping operator is the best? A comparative study of perceptual quality

Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de CatalunyaPublicat sota la llicència Open Access Publishing Agreement, específica d'Optica Publishing Group https://opg.optica.org/submit/review/pdf/CopyrightTransferOpenAccessAgreement-2022-06-27.pdfTone-mapping operators (TMOs) are designed to generate perceptually similar low-dynamic-range images from high-dynamic-range ones. We studied the performance of 15 TMOs in two psychophysical experiments where observers compared the digitally generated tone-mapped images to their corresponding physical scenes. All experiments were performed in a controlled environment, and the setups were designed to emphasize different image properties: in the first experiment we evaluated the local relationships among intensity levels, and in the second one we evaluated global visual appearance among physical scenes and tone-mapped images, which were presented side by side. We ranked the TMOs according to how well they reproduced the results obtained in the physical scene. Our results show that ranking position clearly depends on the adopted evaluation criteria, which implies that, in general, these tone-mapping algorithms consider either local or global image attributes but rarely both. Regarding the question of which TMO is the best, KimKautz ["Consistent tone reproduction," in Proceedings of Computer Graphics and Imaging (2008)] and Krawczyk ["Lightness perception in tone reproduction for high dynamic range images," in Proceedings of Eurographics (2005), p. 3] obtained the better results across the different experiments. We conclude that more thorough and standardized evaluation criteria are needed to study all the characteristics of TMOs, as there is ample room for improvement in future developments

Antibacterial Properties of Nanoparticles in Dental Restorative Materials. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background and Objectives: Nanotechnology has become a significant area of research focused mainly on increasing the antibacterial and mechanical properties of dental materials. The aim of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine and quantitatively analyze the current evidence for the addition of different nanoparticles into dental restorative materials, to determine whether their incorporation increases the antibacterial/antimicrobial properties of the materials. Materials and Methods: A literature search was performed in the Pubmed, Scopus, and Embase databases, up to December 2018, following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis) guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Results: A total of 624 papers were identified in the initial search. After screening the texts and applying inclusion criteria, only 11 of these were selected for quantitative analysis. The incorporation of nanoparticles led to a significant increase (p-value < 0.01) in the antibacterial capacity of all the dental materials synthesized in comparison with control materials. Conclusions: The incorporation of nanoparticles into dental restorative materials was a favorable option; the antibacterial activity of nanoparticle-modified dental materials was significantly higher compared with the original unmodified materials, TiO2 nanoparticles providing the greatest benefits. However, the high heterogeneity among the articles reviewed points to the need for further research and the application of standardized research protocols

La incidencia del marketing online en la relación universidad-empresa a través de la Ciudad Politécnica de la Innovación de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. Estudios de caso

[ES] La Ciudad Politécnica de la Innovación (CPI) es una institución impulsada por la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV). Se estructura como un Parque Científico en red en el que los agentes que lo componen colaboran y sinergizan entre sí para multiplicar su alcance y complementar sus trabajos tratando de maximizar el valor aportado en sus proyectos. La CPI está compuesta por 45 Centros de Investigación, más de 3.000 investigadores y 140.000 metros cuadrados de instalaciones científicas. La Fundación de la Ciudad Politécnica de la Innovación tiene funciones de coordinación de instalaciones y proyectos, así como de promotor del Parque Científico en el tejido empresarial valenciano. Ésta institución se sirve de las herramientas que proporciona el marketing online para darse a conocer entre diferentes agentes de interés. El marketing online combina los principios básicos del marketing con las herramientas digitales que prestan los operadores de internet para multiplicar el rendimiento de las acciones llevadas a cabo. La mayoría de estas herramientas se ofrecen en forma de plataformas online gratuitas (en sus versiones más simples), en las que con un simple registro de datos personales o, como es el caso, corporativos se puede acceder a un amplio catálogo de herramientas y funciones que ayudan a aumentar el alcance de las publicaciones y a monitorizarlas para gestionar de una manera eficiente los perfiles corporativos, que son la imagen de la empresa en Internet, y conseguir así dar un paso más hacia una comunicación efectiva y bidireccional. Las características del marketing online y el valor que añaden en términos comunicativos y de gestión, hacen que sea de vital importancia para el Parque Científico que la Fundación CPI se sirva de ellas, en aras de alcanzar los objetivos estratégicos que se propone la organización en el contexto actual. Así pues, dicha fundación es la titular de una página web actualizada con las últimas novedades acaecidas en los agentes que forman el Parque Científico. Esta web es el eje de su estrategia online y de ella se nutren de contenido los perfiles corporativos de las redes sociales, las cuales dan difusión y generan opiniones sobre éste. La Fundación tiene presencia en Facebook, LinkedIn y Twitter, así como en la plataforma de blogs Wordpress. Con cuentas corporativas en estas plataformas trata de llegar al mayor número de público objetivo posible, complementándose los distintos tipos de audiencia de cada plataforma y adaptando su contenido en función a ello.Tronchoni Company, C. (2014). LA INCIDENCIA DEL MARKETING ONLINE EN LA RELACIÓN UNIVERSIDAD-EMPRESA A TRAVÉS DE LA CIUDAD POLITÉCNICA DE LA INNOVACIÓN DE LA UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE VALENCIA. ESTUDIOS DE CASO. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/38963.Archivo delegad

Validation of the psychosocial impact of dental aesthetics questionnaire (Pidaq) in Spanish adolescents

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the Spanish version of PIDAQ for application in adolescents. Study Design: The questionnaire was translated, cross-culturally adapted and completed by 627 adolescents (366 12-year-olds and 261 15-year-olds). The adolescents were also examined by 4 examiners who had been calibrated against a gold standard and relative to each other (Kappa >0.85) in determining treatment need with the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) and the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN) DHC and AC components. Results: Cronbach´s alpha of the translated PIDAQ was 0.90. The 23 items of the questionnaire were divided into four domains that explained 60% of the variance. The test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was 0.93. Discriminant validity revealed a significant association between the scores for the questionnaire and its subscales or domains and those for the DAI, IOTN-DHC and IOTN-AC treatment need indices. Adolescents with orthodontic treatment need scored higher in the questionnaires. Conclusions: The results show that the Spanish version of PIDAQ has a very similar internal structure and psychometric properties to those of the original questionnaire and demonstrate its validity for use with Spanish adolescents

Governance Review Commission General Rationale Rev 2

Bacterial infectious diseases produced by Vibrio are the main cause of economic losses in aquaculture. During recent years it has been shown that the expression of virulence genes in some Vibrio species is controlled by a population-density dependent gene-expression mechanism known as quorum sensing (QS), which is mediated by the diffusion of signal molecules such as N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs). QS disruption, especially the enzymatic degradation of signalling molecules, known as quorum quenching (QQ), is one of the novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of bacterial infections. In this study, we present the detection of AHLs in 34 marine Vibrionaceae strains. Three aquaculture-related pathogenic Vibrio strains, V. mediterranei VibC-Oc-097, V. owensii VibC-Oc-106 and V. coralliilyticus VibC-Oc-193 were selected for further studies based on their virulence and high production of AHLs. This is the first report where the signal molecules have been characterized in these emerging marine pathogens and correlated to the expression of virulence factors. Moreover, the results of AHL inactivation in the three selected strains have been confirmed in vivo against brine shrimps (Artemia salina) and Manila clams (Venerupis philippinarum). This research contributes to the development of future therapies based on AHL disruption, the most promising alternatives for fighting infectious diseases in aquaculture.This research was supported in part by grants from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain) (http://www.mineco.gob. es/portal/site/mineco/idi) (AGL2012-39274-C02- 02; AGL2015-68806-R; AGL2015-63740-C2-2-R). José Carlos Reina is supported by a FPU fellowship rom the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (Spain) (https://www.mecd.gob.es/ portada-mecd/) (FPU15-01717) and a Initiation to Research fellowship for Master Students (2016) from the University of Granada (Spain

Effect of two whitening agents on the color of composite dental restorations

To evaluate color changes to composite resins used to restore extracted teeth compared with composite discs after whitening with two agents: hydrogen peroxide (HP) and carbamide peroxide (CP). Ten human molars with class V vestibular and palatine cavity preparation obturated with Vita hybrid nanocomposite were hemisected to obtain 20 specimens assigned randomly to two groups: O1 and O2. Twenty composite discs were divided into two groups: D1 and D2. The groups O1 and D1 were treated with 16% CP, while groups =2 and D2 were treated with 37.5 % HP. Chromaticity coordinates L*, a* and b* were registered using a spectrophotometer. Statistically significant differences were found in O1 for L* and a*, in O2 for all three coordinates, and in D1 and D2 only for L*. Comparisons between groups found significant differences in ?Ee (end of treatment) between O1 and O2, between O2 and D2, and between D1 and O1. Both whitening agents produced significant decreases in the three-color components of composites used for dental restorations, while color changes to composite discs were limited to changes in luminosity. HP produced a greater color change to composite dental restorations than to composite discs

Relationship between perception of malocclusion and the psychological impact of dental aesthetics in university students

Introduction and Objectives: The objectives were to assess the relationship between perceived smile aesthetics and perceived psychological impact as measured by the Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ), and their own perception of it using the Aesthetic Component of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN-AC) and a Visual Analog Scale (VAS); relate the IOTN-AC and VAS to the PIDAQ; and study the predictive capacity of the scales for psychological impact. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 447 college students in Spain and Portugal (average age 20.4 years, 33.1% men and 66.9% women). The online self-completed surveys used the recently-validated Spanish and Portuguese versions of the PIDAQ to assess the self-reported psychological impact of the students' dental aesthetics and IOTN-AC and an ad hoc 100 mm VAS for their perception of their dental aesthetics. Results: PIDAQ was linearly correlated with IOTN AC and VAS. Pearson's coefficient was 0.55 for PIDAQ and IOTN-AC (CI 95% 0.48-0.61) and -0.72 for PIDAQ and VAS (CI 95% -0.66 - -0.76). VAS and IOTN-AC were predictive variables in a linear regression model of the total PIDAQ score. The VAS diagnosed individuals whose dental aesthetics had a self-perceived psychological impact (area under the curve 0.827, CI 95% 0.787-0.868) more precisely than the IOTN-AC (area under the curve 0.742, CI 95% 0. 696-0.788). Conclusions: In adults patients, there is a significant linear relationship between perceived smile aesthetics and self-perceived psychological impact