Freezing of hard spheres confined in narrow cylindrical pores

Monte Carlo simulations for the equation of state and phase behavior of hard spheres confined inside very narrow hard tubes are presented. For pores whose radii are greater than 1.1 hard sphere diameters, a sudden change in the density and the microscopic structure of the fluid is neatly observed, indicating the onset of freezing. In the high-density structure the particles rearrange in such a way that groups of three particles fit in sections across the por

Thermal niche evolution and geographical range expansion in a species complex of western Mediterranean diving beetles

[Background] Species thermal requirements are one of the principal determinants of their ecology and biogeography, although our understanding of the interplay between these factors is limited by the paucity of integrative empirical studies. Here we use empirically collected thermal tolerance data in combination with molecular phylogenetics/phylogeography and ecological niche modelling to study the evolution of a clade of three western Mediterranean diving beetles, the Agabus brunneus complex.[Results] The preferred mitochondrial DNA topology recovered A. ramblae (North Africa, east Iberia and Balearic islands) as paraphyletic, with A. brunneus (widespread in the southwestern Mediterranean) and A. rufulus (Corsica and Sardinia) nested within it, with an estimated origin between 0.60-0.25 Ma. All three species were, however, recovered as monophyletic using nuclear DNA markers. A Bayesian skyline plot suggested demographic expansion in the clade at the onset of the last glacial cycle. The species thermal tolerances differ significantly, with A. brunneus able to tolerate lower temperatures than the other taxa. The climatic niche of the three species also differs, with A. ramblae occupying more arid and seasonal areas, with a higher minimum temperature in the coldest month. The estimated potential distribution for both A. brunneus and A. ramblae was most restricted in the last interglacial, becoming increasingly wider through the last glacial and the Holocene.[Conclusions] The A. brunneus complex diversified in the late Pleistocene, most likely in south Iberia after colonization from Morocco. Insular forms did not differentiate substantially in morphology or ecology, but A. brunneus evolved a wider tolerance to cold, which appeared to have facilitated its geographic expansion. Both A. brunneus and A. ramblae expanded their ranges during the last glacial, although they have not occupied areas beyond their LGM potential distribution except for isolated populations of A. brunneus in France and England. On the islands and possibly Tunisia secondary contact between A. brunneus and A. ramblae or A. rufulus has resulted in introgression. Our work highlights the complex dynamics of speciation and range expansions within southern areas during the last glacial cycle, and points to the often neglected role of North Africa as a source of European biodiversity.This work was supported by an FPI grant to AH-G and projects CGL2007-61665 and CGL2010-15755 from the Spanish government to IR. We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).Peer reviewe

In Search of Critically Endangered Species: The Current Situation of Two Tiny Salamander Species in the Neotropical Mountains of Mexico

Worldwide, one in every three species of amphibian is endangered, 39 species have gone extinct in the last 500 years and another 130 species are suspected to have gone extinct in recent decades. Of the amphibians, salamanders have the highest portion of their species in one of the risk categories, even higher than the frogs. To date there have been few studies that have used recent field data to examine the status of populations of endangered salamanders. In this study we evaluate the current situation of two tiny salamanders, Parvimolge townsendi and Thorius pennatulus, both of which are distributed at intermediate elevations in the mountains of the northern Neotropics and are considered to be critically endangered; the first has been proposed as possibly extinct. By carrying out exhaustive surveys in both historical and potentially suitable sites for these two species, we evaluated their abundance and the characteristics of their habitats, and we estimated their potential geographic distribution. We visited 22 sites, investing 672 person-hours of sampling effort in the surveys, and found 201 P. townsendi salamanders in 11 sites and only 13 T. pennatulus salamanders in 5 sites. Both species were preferentially found in cloud forest fragments that were well conserved or only moderately transformed, and some of the salamanders were found in shade coffee plantations. The potential distribution area of both species is markedly fragmented and we estimate that it has decreased by more than 48%. The results of this study highlight the importance of carrying out exhaustive, systematic field surveys to obtain accurate information about the current situation of critically endangered species, and help us better understand the crisis that amphibians are facing worldwide

Incidence, clinical characteristics and management of inflammatory bowel disease in Spain: large-scale epidemiological study

(1) Aims: To assess the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Spain, to describe the main epidemiological and clinical characteristics at diagnosis and the evolution of the disease, and to explore the use of drug treatments. (2) Methods: Prospective, population-based nationwide registry. Adult patients diagnosed with IBD—Crohn’s disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) or IBD unclassified (IBD-U)—during 2017 in Spain were included and were followed-up for 1 year. (3) Results: We identified 3611 incident cases of IBD diagnosed during 2017 in 108 hospitals covering over 22 million inhabitants. The overall incidence (cases/100, 000 person-years) was 16 for IBD, 7.5 for CD, 8 for UC, and 0.5 for IBD-U; 53% of patients were male and median age was 43 years (interquartile range = 31–56 years). During a median 12-month follow-up, 34% of patients were treated with systemic steroids, 25% with immunomodulators, 15% with biologics and 5.6% underwent surgery. The percentage of patients under these treatments was significantly higher in CD than UC and IBD-U. Use of systemic steroids and biologics was significantly higher in hospitals with high resources. In total, 28% of patients were hospitalized (35% CD and 22% UC patients, p < 0.01). (4) Conclusion: The incidence of IBD in Spain is rather high and similar to that reported in Northern Europe. IBD patients require substantial therapeutic resources, which are greater in CD and in hospitals with high resources, and much higher than previously reported. One third of patients are hospitalized in the first year after diagnosis and a relevant proportion undergo surgery. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

El derecho del trabajo y de la seguridad social en España en 2014

Este documento intenta reflejar algunos de los principales cambios y novedades del ordenamiento laboral español en 2014, levantando acta de cómo la mutabilidad de nuestro Derecho del Trabajo es imparable. Este informe, consciente de ello, ofrece una selección de elementos esenciales, a juicio de sus autores, especialistas en cada una de las materias, encuadrados en la Sección Juvenil de la Asociación Española de Derecho del Trabajo y de la Seguridad Social. En él, conforme a la organización de dicha Sección en grupos de trabajo, se abordan las novedades más relevantes en materia de derechos fundamentales inespecíficos, contratación laboral, vicisitudes del contrato de trabajo, Derecho colectivo, conciliación y corresponsabilidad, protección social y prevención de riesgos laborales. This paper tries to show some of the many changes and novelties in Spanish Labour Law during 2014, drawing up a record of the unstoppable character of our Labour legal system. This report offers a selection of essential elements, according to its authors, all of them specialists in each one of the subjects, being part of the Young Scholars’ Section of the Spanish Association for Labour and Social Security Law. According to the organization of the said Section in working groups, we can find novelties concerning unspecific fundamental rights, work contracts, the life of the work contract and collective Labour Law, work-life balance and co responsibility, social protection and occupational risk prevention

SUMOylation controls Hu antigen R posttranscriptional activity in liver cancer

© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).The posttranslational modification of proteins critically influences many biological processes and is a key mechanism that regulates the function of the RNA-binding protein Hu antigen R (HuR), a hub in liver cancer. Here, we show that HuR is SUMOylated in the tumor sections of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in contrast to the surrounding tissue, as well as in human cell line and mouse models of the disease. SUMOylation of HuR promotes major cancer hallmarks, namely proliferation and invasion, whereas the absence of HuR SUMOylation results in a senescent phenotype with dysfunctional mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum. Mechanistically, SUMOylation induces a structural rearrangement of the RNA recognition motifs that modulates HuR binding affinity to its target RNAs, further modifying the transcriptomic profile toward hepatic tumor progression. Overall, SUMOylation constitutes a mechanism of HuR regulation that could be potentially exploited as a therapeutic strategy for liver cancer.This work was supported by grants to M.L.M.-C. from Departamento de Industria del Gobierno Vasco, Spain; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain (grant no. PID2020-117116RB-I00); European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), EU; and CIBERehd, which is funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Spain. M.L.M.-C. and J.S. received funding from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grant no. RTC2019-007125-1) and ISCIII (grant no. DTS20/00138). M.L.M.-C. and R.M.L. acknowledge Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grant no. RED2022-134397-T). M.L.M.-C. and J.M.B. were awarded with a grant from Fundación la Caixa, Spain (grant no. HR17-00601). M.L.M.-C., J.M.B., M.A.A., and J.J.G.M. acknowledge financial support from Fundación Científica de la Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC), Spain. M.S.R. recognizes funding from Fondo Sectorial de Investigación SRE - CONACYT, Mexico (grant no. 0280365); Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program funded under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, EU (grant no. 765445); and REPÈRE and Programme de Prématuration from Région Occitanie, France. M.G., S.D., and K.M.-M. were supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), US (grant no. Z01-AG000511-23). I.D.-M. is grateful for the grants received from Junta de Andalucía, Spain (grant no. BIO-198, US-1254317, P18-FR-3487, and P18-HO-4091); Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain (grant no. PGC2018-096049-BI00); and Fundación Ramón Areces, Spain. T.D. acknowledges Fondation ARC, France (grant no. 208084). J.J.G.M. was supported by Junta de Castilla y León, Spain (grant no. SA063P17); Fundación La Marató TV3, Spain (grant no. 201916-31); ISCIII (grant no. PI19/00819); CIBERehd; and ERDF (grant no. OLD-HEPAMARKER). M.A.A. recognizes Gobierno de Navarra, Spain (grant no. GºNa 42/21); Eurorregión Nueva Aquitania-Euskadi-Navarra, Spain; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grant no. PID2019-104878RB-I00); and CIBERehd. A.P. expresses gratitude to the European Research Council (ERC), EU (grant no. 804236) for their support. M.D.G. received financial support from Junta de Andalucía (grant no. PEMP-0036-2020 and BIO-0139); Ministerio de Universidades, Spain (grant no. FPU20/03957); ISCIII (grant no. PI20/01301), Fundación Sociedad Española de Endocrinología y Nutrición (FSEEN), Spain; CIBERehd; and CIBERobn, which is also funded by ISCIII. J.M.B. acknowledges Euskadi RIS3 (grant no. 2019222054, 2020333010, and 2021333003) and Elkartek programs from Gobierno Vasco (grant no. KK-2020/00008); ISCIII (grant no. PI18/01075, CPII19/00008, and PI21/00922); CIBERehd; PSC Support, UK; AMMF The Cholangiocarcinoma Charity, UK (grant no. EU/2019/AMMFt/001); Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (grant no. 825510); ERDF; and PSC Partners Seeking a Cure, US. A.L. received financial support from the Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award, US (grant no. DR52-18) and the MERIT Award (R37) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH (grant no. R37CA230636). F.E. expresses his gratitude to ProteoRed from ISCIII (grant no. PT13/0001/0027) and CIBERehd. N.G.A.A. was funded by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (grant no. RTI2018-095700-B-I00). R.B. acknowledges financial support from Gobierno Vasco (grant no. IT1165-19); Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Spain (grant no. SAF2017-90900-REDT); Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, ERDF (grant no. BFU2017-84653-P); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grant no. PID2020-114178GB-I00); and Horizon 2020 funded under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (grant no. 765445-EU). A.M.A. acknowledges CIBERehd. L.A.M.-C. obtained grants from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (grant no. CSD2008-00005); Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant no. BFU2016-77408-R); ISCIII; and EJP RD, EU (grant no. EJPRD19-040). I.G.-R. was supported by Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant no. BES-2017-080435 ). M.S.-M. is grateful to the AECC, Sede de Bizkaia, Spain for the financial support. J.D.Z. was awarded with a grant from Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant no. SEV-2016-0644-18-2). C.M. acknowledges Gobierno Vasco (grant no. IT-1264-19) and Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grant no. PID2022-136788OB-I00). A.V.-C. was supported by Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Spain (grant no. FPU016/01513). C.F.-R. thanks Tekniker, Spain and CIC bioGUNE, Spain for financial support. A.G.-d.R. was funded by Bikaintek program from Gobierno Vasco (grant no. 48-AF-W1-2019-00012). N.G.-U. obtained a grant from Gobierno Vasco. T.C.D. expresses gratitude to AECC. J.S. received financial support from CIBERehd. C.M.R.-G. was supported by Ayudas a la Recualificación Margarita Salas from Universidad de Extremadura, Ministerio de Universidades financed by NextGenerationEU.Peer reviewe

Informe: Derecho del trabajo y de la seguridad social en España en 2013. Algunos puntos críticos

Este documento intenta reflejar algunos de los principales cambios y novedades del ordenamiento laboral español en 2013, levantando acta de cómo la mutabilidad de nuestro Derecho del Trabajo es imparable. Este informe, consciente de ello, ofrece una selección de elementos esenciales, a juicio de sus autores, especialistas en cada una de las materias, encuadrados en la Sección Juvenil de la Asociación Española de Derecho del Trabajo y de la Seguridad Social. En él, conforme a la organización de dicha Sección en grupos de trabajo, se abordan las novedades más relevantes en materia de derechos fundamentales inespecíficos, contratación laboral, vicisitudes del contrato de trabajo, Derecho colectivo, conciliación y corresponsabilidad, protección social y prevención de riesgos laborales. This paper tries to show some of the many changes and novelties in Spanish Labour Law during 2013, drawing up a record of the unstoppable character of our Labour legal system. This report offers a selection of essential elements, according to its authors, all of them specialists in each one of the subjects, being part of the Young Scholars’ Section of the Spanish Association for Labour and Social Security Law. According to the organization of the said Section in working groups, we can find novelties concerning unspecific fundamental rights, work contracts, the life of the work contract and collective Labour Law, reconciliation and co responsibility, social protection and occupational risk prevention