Extreme thinning of the Brenva glacier toungue form repeat UAV DEMs

This volume collects 34 selected articles that have been grouped into 4 chapters organized in thematic clusters. They refer to the impacts of human activity on the environment, highlighting the state-of-the-art potentialities of Earth Observation in the environmental analysis, monitoring, and protection, with particular concerns about climate change-related effects, natural resources, and human health. 1. Urban & cultural heritage focuses on contributions given by EO in the framework of environmental risks, urban planning, cultural heritage monitoring and documentation, and energetic efficiency. 2. Environment includes works representing studies at the territorial scale about different environmental components in relationship with threads that climate change has introduced. 3. Agriculture and Forestry, show the increasing role of EO in the agricultural and forest fields, related to their roles to the environmental sustainability of management and carbon stocks balances. 4. Algorithm & sensors presents and comparing new approaches and algorithms to support sensitive needs from civil society, like photovoltaic plants monitoring and location, oil spills, infrastructures monitoring

The Folding Mechanism of the SH3 Domain from Grb2

SH3 domains are small protein modules involved in the regulation of important cellular pathways. These domains mediate protein-protein interactions recognizing motifs rich in proline on the target protein. The SH3 domain from Grb2 (Grb2-SH3) presents the typical structure of an SH3 domain composed of two-three stranded antiparallel \u3b2-sheets orthogonally packed onto each other, to form a single hydrophobic core. Grb2 interacts, via SH3 domain, with Gab2, a scaffolding disordered protein, triggering some key metabolic pathways involved in cell death and differentiation. In this work we report a mutational analysis (\u3c6-value analysis) of the folding pathway of Grb2-SH3 that, coupled with molecular dynamic simulations, allows us to assess the structure of the transition state and the mechanism of folding of this domain. Data suggest that Grb2-SH3 folds via a native-like, diffused transition state with a concurrent formation of native-like secondary and tertiary structure (nucleation-condensation mechanism) and without the accumulation of folding intermediates. The comparison between our data and previous folding studies on SH3 domains belonging to other proteins, highlights that proteins of this class may fold via alternative pathways, stabilized by different nuclei leading or not to accumulation of folding intermediates. This comparative analysis suggests that the alternative folding pathways for this class of SH3 domains can be selectively regulated by the specific aminoacid sequences

Changes of intracardiac flow dynamics measured by HyperDoppler in patients with aortic stenosis

Aims Assessment of intracardiac flow dynamics has recently acquired significance due to the development of new measurement methods based on echocardiography. Recent studies have demonstrated that cardiac abnormalities are associated with changes in intracardiac vortical flows. Yet, no previous study assessed the impact of aortic stenosis (AS) on intracardiac vortices. This study aims to explore the clinical potential of additional information provided by quantifying intracardiac flow dynamics in patients with AS. Methods and results One hundred and twenty patients with severe AS, sixty patients with concentric ventricular remodelling (VR), and hundred controls (CTRL) were prospectively included and underwent non-invasive evaluation of intracardiac flow dynamics. In addition to standard echocardiography, fluid dynamics were assessed by means of HyperDoppler. Vortex depth (P < 0.001), vortex length (P = 0.003), vortex intensity (P < 0.001), and vortex area (P = 0.049) were significantly increased in AS compared with CTRL. In addition, mean energy dissipation was significantly higher in AS compared with CTRL (P < 0.001) and VR (P = 0.002). At receiver operating characteristic analysis, vortex depth showed the best discrimination capacity for AS (P < 0.001). Conclusion Changes in fluid dynamics-based HyperDoppler indices can be reliably assessed in patients with AS. Significant changes in vortex depth and intensity can selectively differentiate AS from both concentric remodelling and healthy CTRLs, suggesting that the assessment of intracardiac flow dynamics may provide complementary information to standard echocardiography to better characterize patients' subsets

Optimización de métodos para el estudio del riesgo asociado a la contaminación fecal del agua y alimentos: cuantificación de patógenos y del riesgo de infecciones virales y análisis metagenómico de virus asociados a hepatitis

El agua es esencial para el sostenimiento de la vida en la tierra, por lo tanto, la calidad debe ser controlada para garantizar su uso de forma segura. Los objetivos planteados en esta tesis están orientados a la optimización de métodos para el estudio del riesgo asociado a la contaminación fecal del agua y alimentos. Este trabajo se dividen en tres secciones: La primera parte busca mejorar las herramientas para cuantificar de una manera más precisa los patógenos y el riesgo microbiológico que tiene el consumo de agua contaminada. En la segunda parte se estima el riesgo microbiológico de la utilización de agua regenerada para el riego de vegetales. En la última parte estudiamos pacientes con hepatitis aguda de etiología desconocida para la valoración de virus emergentes o virus nuevos de posible transmisión fecal-oral como posibles causantes de hepatitis. Los objetivos desarrollados en la presente tesis doctoral han dado lugar a una serie de resultados publicados o en proceso de publicación, las principales conclusiones de estos trabajos fueron: (a) El método SMF pudo ser utilizado eficientemente para concentrar simultáneamente los virus, bacterias y protozoos y se desarrolló un método para estimar la concentración real usando la cuantificaciones obtenidas por q(RT)PCR y la predicción de intervalos al 95% mediante “bootstrap” de las recuperaciones; (b) ninguna de los dos planta evaluadas fueron capaces de superar el umbral de <1.00E-6 DALYs pppy considerado como aceptable por la WHO para irrigar vegetales con agua regenerada y (c) la técnica de secuenciación masiva aplicada en esta tesis permitió detectar una gran variedad de secuencias de especies virales en pacientes con hepatitis y las principales familias identificadas fueron Anelloviridae, Caliciviridae y Astroviridae, todas estas relacionadas con transmisión fecal-oral

The Effect of Fractal Contact Lenses on Peripheral Refraction in Myopic Model Eyes

Purpose: To test multizone contact lenses in model eyes: Fractal Contact Lenses (FCLs), designed to induce myopic peripheral refractive error (PRE). Methods: Zemax ray-tracing software was employed to simulate myopic and accommodation-dependent model eyes fitted with FCLs. PRE, defined in terms of mean sphere M and 90–180 astigmatism J180, was computed at different peripheral positions, ranging from 0 to 35 in steps of 5, and for different pupil diameters (PDs). Simulated visual performance and changes in the PRE were also analyzed for contact lens decentration and model eye accommodation. For comparison purposes, the same simulations were performed with another commercially available contact lens designed for the same intended use: the Dual Focus (DF). Results: PRE was greater with FCL than with DF when both designs were tested for a 3.5 mm PD, and with and without decentration of the lenses. However, PRE depended on PD with both multizone lenses, with a remarkable reduction of the myopic relative effect for a PD of 5.5 mm. The myopic PRE with contact lenses decreased as the myopic refractive error increased, but this could be compensated by increasing the power of treatment zones. A peripheral myopic shift was also induced by the FCLs in the accommodated model eye. In regard to visual performance, a myopia under-correction with reference to the circle of least confusion was obtained in all cases for a 5.5 mm PD. The ghost images, generated by treatment zones of FCL, were dimmer than the ones produced with DF lens of the same power. Conclusions: FCLs produce a peripheral myopic defocus without compromising central vision in photopic conditions. FCLs have several design parameters that can be varied to obtain optimum results: lens diameter, number of zones, addition and asphericity; resulting in a very promising customized lens for the treatment of myopia progression.This research was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (grant FIS2011-23175), the Generalitat Valenciana (grant PROMETEO2009-077) and the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (grant INNOVA SP20120569), Spain.Rodríguez Vallejo, M.; Benlloch Fornés, JI.; Pons Martí, A.; Monsoriu Serra, JA.; Furlan, WD. (2014). The Effect of Fractal Contact Lenses on Peripheral Refraction in Myopic Model Eyes. Current Eye Research. 39(12):1-10. https://doi.org/10.3109/02713683.2014.903498S110391

Intrinsic factor recognition promotes T helper 17/T helper 1 autoimmune gastric inflammation in patients with pernicious anemia

The intrinsic factor is the major humoral autoantigen in pernicious anemia/ autoimmune gastritis. Although many studies have examined the autoantibody response to intrinsic factor and H+,K+-ATPase, no information is available on possible pathogenic mechanisms mediated by intrinsic factor - specific gastric T cells. Aim of this study was to investigate intrinsic factor-specific T cells in the gastric mucosa of pernicious anemia patients and define their functional properties. For the first time we provide evidence that gastric mucosa of pernicious anemia patients harbour a high proportion (20%) of autoreactive activated CD4+ T-cell clones that specifically recognize intrinsic factor. Most of these clones (94%) showed a T helper 17 or T helper 1 profile. All intrinsic factor-specific clones produced tumor necrosis factor-a, interleukin-21 and provided substantial help for B-cell immunoglobulin production. Most mucosa-derived intrinsic factor-specific T-cell clones expressed cytotoxicity against target cells. Our results indicate that activation of intrinsic factor-specific T helper 17 and T helper 1 T cells in the gastric mucosa represent a key effector mechanism in pernicious anemia suggesting that the T helper 17/T helper 1 pathway may represent a novel target for the prevention and treatment of the disease