Determinación de la longitud de falla y velocidad de ruptura para terremotos de magnitud media

En el proceso de inversión de la función de directividad para la obtención de la longitud de falla y velocidad de ruptura, en el caso de terremotos de magnitud media, es muy dificil obtener ambos parámetros independientemente y deben hacerse hipótesis sobre uno de los dos  parámetros. Proponemos una solución a este problema mediante un proceso iterativo, que iniciamos con un valor hipotético de la velocidad de ruptura. El resultado final resulta ser independiente del valor de partida. Mediante este proceso hemos obtenido la longitud de falla y velocidad de ruptura de dos terremotos, el del  18-nov-1970, ocurrido en la Dorsal Oriental del Pacifico, y el del 4-jul-1966, ocurrido en la Dorsal Centro-Atlántica. Para el sismo del 18-nov-1970 los valores obtenidos en la b= (18+1) km v=(2.3+-0.1) km/s y para el sismo del  4-jul-1966 b=(19+-2) km, v=(2.1+-0.1)kmls. Las desviaciones tipicas de estos parámetros, del orden del 5-10%, son  inferiores a las obtenidas en trabajos previo

Meal enjoyment and tolerance in women and men

Various conditioning factors influence the sensory response to a meal (inducible factors). We hypothesized that inherent characteristics of the eater (constitutive factors) also play a role. The aim of this proof-of-concept study was to determine the role of gender, as an individual constitutive factor, on the meal-related experience. Randomized parallel trial in 10 women and 10 men, comparing the sensations before, during, and after stepwise ingestion of a comfort meal up to full satiation. Comparisons were performed by repeated Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) measures. During stepwise ingestion, satisfaction initially increased up to a peak, and later decreased down to a nadir at the point of full satiation. Interestingly, the amount of food consumed at the well-being peak was lower, and induced significantly less fullness in women than in men. Hence, men required a larger meal load and stronger homeostatic sensations to achieve satisfaction. The same pattern was observed at the level of full satiation: men ate more and still experienced positive well-being, whereas in women, well-being scores dropped below pre-meal level. The effect of gender on the ingestion experience suggests that other constitutive factors of the eater may also influence responses to meals

SALDI-MS and SERS Multimodal Imaging: One Nanostructured Substrate to Rule Them Both

Imaging techniques based on mass spectrometry or spectroscopy methods inform in situ about the chemical composition of biological tissues or organisms, but they are sometimes limited by their specificity, sensitivity, or spatial resolution. Multimodal imaging addresses these limitations by combining several imaging modalities; however, measuring the same sample with the same preparation using multiple imaging techniques is still uncommon due to the incompatibility between substrates, sample preparation protocols, and data formats. We present a multimodal imaging approach that employs a gold-coated nanostructured silicon substrate to couple surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Our approach integrates both imaging modalities by using the same substrate, sample preparation, and data analysis software on the same sample, allowing the coregistration of both images. We transferred molecules from clean fingertips and fingertips covered with plasticine modeling clay onto our nanostructure and analyzed their chemical composition and distribution by SALDI-MS and SERS. Multimodal analysis located the traces of plasticine on fingermarks and provided chemical information on the composition of the clay. Our multimodal approach effectively combines the advantages of mass spectrometry and vibrational spectroscopy with the signal enhancing abilities of our nanostructured substrate

Lipoprotein hydrophobic core lipids are partially extruded to surface in smaller HDL : "Herniated" HDL, a common feature in diabetes

Recent studies have shown that pharmacological increases in HDL cholesterol concentrations do not necessarily translate into clinical benefits for patients, raising concerns about its predictive value for cardiovascular events. Here we hypothesize that the size-modulated lipid distribution within HDL particles is compromised in metabolic disorders that have abnormal HDL particle sizes, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). By using NMR spectroscopy combined with a biochemical volumetric model we determined the size and spatial lipid distribution of HDL subclasses in a cohort of 26 controls and 29 DM2 patients before and after two drug treatments, one with niacin plus laropiprant and another with fenofibrate as an add-on to simvastatin. We further characterized the HDL surface properties using atomic force microscopy and fluorescent probes to show an abnormal lipid distribution within smaller HDL particles, a subclass particularly enriched in the DM2 patients. The reduction in the size, force cholesterol esters and triglycerides to emerge from the HDL core to the surface, making the outer surface of HDL more hydrophobic. Interestingly, pharmacological interventions had no effect on this undesired configuration, which may explain the lack of clinical benefits in DM2 subjects

(1)H-NMR-based metabolomic analysis of the effect of moderate wine consumption on subjects with cardiovascular risk factors

Moderate wine consumption is associated with health-promoting activities. An H-NMR-based metabolomic approach was used to identify urinary metabolomic differences of moderate wine intake in the setting of a prospective, randomized, crossover, and controlled trial. Sixty-one male volunteers with high cardiovascular risk factors followed three dietary interventions (28 days): dealcoholized red wine (RWD) (272mL/day, polyphenol control), alcoholized red wine (RWA) (272mL/day) and gin (GIN) (100mL/day, alcohol control). After each period, 24-h urine samples were collected and analyzed by (1) H-NMR. According to the results of a one-way ANOVA, significant markers were grouped in four categories: alcohol-related markers (ethanol); gin-related markers; wine-related markers; and gut microbiota markers (hippurate and 4-hydroxphenylacetic acid). Wine metabolites were classified into two groups; first, metabolites of food metabolome: tartrate (RWA and RWD), ethanol, and mannitol (RWA); and second, biomarkers that relates to endogenous modifications after wine consumption, comprising branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) metabolite (3-methyl-oxovalerate). Additionally, a possible interaction between alcohol and gut-related biomarkers has been identified. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this approach has been applied in a nutritional intervention with red wine. The results show the capacity of this approach to obtain a comprehensive metabolome picture including food metabolome and endogenous biomarkers of moderate wine intake

Metabolomics reveals impaired maturation of HDL particles in adolescents with hyperinsulinaemic androgen excess.

Hyperinsulinaemic androgen excess (HIAE) in prepubertal and pubertal girls usually precedes a broader pathological phenotype in adulthood that is associated with anovulatory infertility, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. The metabolic derangements that determine these long-term health risks remain to be clarified. Here we use NMR and MS-based metabolomics to show that serum levels of methionine sulfoxide in HIAE girls are an indicator of the degree of oxidation of methionine-148 residue in apolipoprotein-A1. Oxidation of apo-A1 in methionine-148, in turn, leads to an impaired maturation of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) that is reflected in a decline of large HDL particles. Notably, such metabolic alterations occur in the absence of impaired glucose tolerance, hyperglycemia and hypertriglyceridemia, and were partially restored after 18 months of treatment with a low-dose combination of pioglitazone, metformin and flutamide

A baseline metabolomic signature is associated with immunological CD4+ T-Cell recovery after 36 months of art in HIV-infected patients

Poor immunological recovery in treated HIV-infected patients is associated with greater morbidity and mortality. To date, predictive biomarkers of this incomplete immune reconstitution have not been established. We aimed to identify a baseline metabolomic signature associated with a poor immunological recovery after ART in order to envisage the underlying mechanistic pathways that influence the treatment response.Peer reviewe

A baseline metabolomic signature is associated with immunological CD4 + T-cell recovery after 36 months of antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected patients

Poor immunological recovery in treated HIV-infected patients is associated with greater morbidity and mortality. To date, predictive biomarkers of this incomplete immune reconstitution have not been established. We aimed to identify a baseline metabolomic signature associated with a poor immunological recovery after antiretroviral therapy (ART) to envisage the underlying mechanistic pathways that influence the treatment response. This was a multicentre, prospective cohort study in ART-naive and a pre-ART low nadir (<200 cells/μl) HIV-infected patients (n = 64). We obtained clinical data and metabolomic profiles for each individual, in which low molecular weight metabolites, lipids and lipoproteins (including particle concentrations and sizes) were measured by NMR spectroscopy. Immunological recovery was defined as reaching CD4 + T-cell count at least 250 cells/μl after 36 months of virologically successful ART. We used univariate comparisons, Random Forest test and receiver-operating characteristic curves to identify and evaluate the predictive factors of immunological recovery after treatment. HIV-infected patients with a baseline metabolic pattern characterized by high levels of large high density lipoprotein (HDL) particles, HDL cholesterol and larger sizes of low density lipoprotein particles had a better immunological recovery after treatment. Conversely, patients with high ratios of non-HDL lipoprotein particles did not experience this full recovery. Medium very-low-density lipoprotein particles and glucose increased the classification power of the multivariate model despite not showing any significant differences between the two groups. In HIV-infected patients, a baseline healthier metabolomic profile is related to a better response to ART where the lipoprotein profile, mainly large HDL particles, may play a key role