Estudio experimental y teórico de sustancias con interés biológico y nutricional: espectroscopía Raman e infrarrroja

Es bien sabido que los carotenoides son compuestos que poseen un alto poder antioxidante y su presencia en la dieta humana tiene grandes beneficios no solo desde el punto de vista nutricional, sino también en la prevención de enfermedades. A modo de ejemplo, se sabe que el β-caroteno es el principal precursor de la vitamina A y que el licopeno juega un papel fundamental en la prevención del cáncer de próstata. Dado que los seres humanos no son capaces de sintetizar carotenoides y por ello deben ingerirlos en la dieta, resulta de enorme interés el estudio de dichos compuestos en frutos. Objetivos El principal objetivo de esta Tesis Doctoral ha sido llevar a cabo un estudio experimental y teórico de la estructura, presencia, evolución y estabilidad térmica del β-caroteno y el licopeno, en estado puro y en diversos frutos y matrices biológicas como tomates, zanahorias y mangos empleando técnicas espectroscópicas (Raman e Infrarrojo) así como modelización molecular con métodos DFT..

Bovine parthenogenotes produced by inhibition of first or second polar bodies emission

Parthenogenetic embryos are an ethically acceptable alternative for the derivation of human embryonic stem cells. In this work, we propose a new strategy to produce bovine parthenogenetic embryos inhibiting the emission of the first polar body during in vitro maturation, and allowing the extrusion of the second polar body during oocyte activation. Cytochalasin B, an inhibitor of actin microfilaments, was employed during in vitro maturation to inhibit first polar body emission or during parthenogenetic activation to block second polar body emission. Only one polar body was inhibited in each strategy in order to keep the diploid chromosome set. In experiment 1, the effect of cytochalasin B on in vitro maturation of bovine oocytes was evaluated. Most oocytes (77%) were arrested at a meiotic stage characterized by the presence of a large internal metaphase plate and absence of polar body. In experiment 2, development of embryos exposed to cytochalasin B during in vitro maturation (CytoB-IVM) or during activation (CytoB-ACT) was compared. Developmental rates did not differ between diploidization strategies, even when three agents were employed to induce activation. Both groups, CytoB-IVM and CytoB-ACT, tended to maintain diploidy. CytoB-IVM parthenogenesis could help to obtain embryos with a higher degree of homology to the oocyte donor.Fil: Bevacqua, Romina Jimena. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Pabellón de Zootecnica. Laboratorio de Biotecnología Animal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Fernández y Martín, Rafael. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Pabellón de Zootecnica. Laboratorio de Biotecnología Animal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Salamone, Daniel Felipe. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Pabellón de Zootecnica. Laboratorio de Biotecnología Animal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Genetics applied to clinical practice in neurodevelopmental disorders

Las evidencias genéticas de los trastornos del neurodesarrollo están ampliamente sustentadas en la literatura médica. Los avances en la genética y la tecnología han incrementado la rentabilidad diagnóstica de los estudios actuales de un 3-5% a un 30-40% en los pacientes con discapacidad intelectual o trastornos del espectro autista. En este sentido, los estudios por microarrays cromosómicos muestran un mayor poder diagnóstico que las técnicas convencionales (cariotipo, análisis de subtelómeros…). Los protocolos más recientes en el apartado biomédico del estudio genético de estos trastornos sitúan los microarrays cromosómicos como análisis de primera línea, recomendando otros estudios específicos según las características clínicas del paciente (síndrome X frágil, mutación en PTEN...). En la evaluación de otros trastornos del neurodesarrollo (trastorno por déficit de atención/hiperactividad, trastornos del aprendizaje...), la realización de pruebas genéticas está limitada y condicionada a las características clínicas o antecedentes familiares o personales del paciente; incluso en estas situaciones, no existen protocolos de evaluación o derivación genéticaThe medical literature contains a wide body of evidence supporting genetic involvement in neurodevelopmental disorders. Advances made in genetics and technology have increased the diagnostic cost-effectiveness of current studies from 3-5% to 30-40% in patients with intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorders. In this regard, chromosomal microarray studies display greater diagnostic power than conventional techniques (karyotype, subtelomeric analyses, etc.). The latest protocols in the biomedical field of the genetic study of these disorders cite chromosomal microarrays as the first-line analysis, while also recommending other specific studies depending on the patient’s clinical features (fragile X syndrome, PTEN mutation, etc.). In the evaluation of other neurodevelopmental disorders (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disorders, etc.), the number of genetic tests carried out is limited and conditioned by the clinical characteristics or the patient’s familial or personal history. Even in these situations, there are no genetic referral or evaluation protocol

Rules and fuzzy rules in text: concept, extraction and usage

Several concepts and techniques have been imported from other disciplines such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to the field of textual data. In this paper, we focus on the concept of rule and the management of uncertainty in text applications. The different structures considered for the construction of the rules, the extraction of the knowledge base and the applications and usage of these rules are detailed. We include a review of the most relevant works of the different types of rules based on their representation and their application to most of the common tasks of Information Retrieval such as categorization, indexing and classification

Human observers and automated assessment of dynamic emotional facial expressions: KDEF-dyn database validation

Most experimental studies of facial expression processing have used static stimuli (photographs), yet facial expressions in daily life are generally dynamic. In its original photographic format, the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) has been frequently utilized. In the current study, we validate a dynamic version of this database, the KDEF-dyn. To this end, we applied animation between neutral and emotional expressions (happy, sad, angry, fearful, disgusted, and surprised; 1,033-ms unfolding) to 40 KDEF models, with morphing software. Ninety-six human observers categorized the expressions of the resulting 240 video-clip stimuli, and automated face analysis assessed the evidence for 6 expressions and 20 facial action units (AUs) at 31 intensities. Low-level image properties (luminance, signal-to-noise ratio, etc.) and other purely perceptual factors (e.g., size, unfolding speed) were controlled. Human recognition performance (accuracy, efficiency, and confusions) patterns were consistent with prior research using static and other dynamic expressions. Automated assessment of expressions and AUs was sensitive to intensity manipulations. Significant correlations emerged between human observers' categorization and automated classification. The KDEF-dyn database aims to provide a balance between experimental control and ecological validity for research on emotional facial expression processing. The stimuli and the validation data are available to the scientific community

A SA-CASSCF and MS-CASPT2 study on the electronic structure of nitrosobenzene and its relation to its dissociation dynamics.

Política de acceso abierto tomada de: https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/9875The photodissociation channels of nitrosobenzene (PhNO) induced by a 255 nm photolytic wavelength have been studied with the complete active space self-consistent (CASSCF) method and the multistate second-order multiconfigurational perturbation theory (MS-CASPT2). It is found that there exists a triplet route for photodissociation of the molecule. The reaction mechanism consists on a complex cascade of nonadiabatic electronic transitions involving triple and double conical intersections as well as intersystem crossing. Several of the relevant states (S2, S4, and S5 states) correspond to double excitations. It is worthy to note that the last step of the photodissociation implies an internal conversion process. The experimentally observed velocity pattern of the NO fragment is a signature of such a conical intersection

An Analysis of the Cost of Water Supply Linked to the Tourism Industry. An Application to the Case of the Island of Ibiza in Spain

[EN] Tourist activity has a number of impacts on the destinations in which it takes place, among which are the environmental ones. A particular problem is the increase in water demand and wastewater production, which can compromise the balance of ecosystems. As many authors point out, there is a research gap in the comparative analysis between available water resources and the demand associated with tourism. In this respect, the main objective of this work is, on the one hand, to assess the water needs linked to the tourism industry and the capacity of natural resources to meet such a demand and, on the other hand, to estimate the economic cost of the water supply associated with the growing tourist demand in a territory, such as the island of Ibiza in Spain. It has been determined that the resources available are not sufficient to meet the water demand of the resident population at this destination, which is why it is necessary to resort to producing desalinated water. Therefore, the additional requirements associated with tourism must be met fully with desalinated water, which results in an increased cost of water management for the region. This paper also points at water losses in distribution networks and tourism seasonality as two phenomena that aggravate this issue.González-Pérez, DM.; Martín-Martín, JM.; Guaita Martínez, JM.; Sáez-Fernández, FJ. (2020). An Analysis of the Cost of Water Supply Linked to the Tourism Industry. An Application to the Case of the Island of Ibiza in Spain. Water. 12(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/w1207200612

An Analysis of the Cost of Water Supply Linked to the Tourism Industry. An Application to the Case of the Island of Ibiza in Spain

Tourist activity has a number of impacts on the destinations in which it takes place, among which are the environmental ones. A particular problem is the increase in water demand and wastewater production, which can compromise the balance of ecosystems. As many authors point out, there is a research gap in the comparative analysis between available water resources and the demand associated with tourism. In this respect, the main objective of this work is, on the one hand, to assess the water needs linked to the tourism industry and the capacity of natural resources to meet such a demand and, on the other hand, to estimate the economic cost of the water supply associated with the growing tourist demand in a territory, such as the island of Ibiza in Spain. It has been determined that the resources available are not sufficient to meet the water demand of the resident population at this destination, which is why it is necessary to resort to producing desalinated water. Therefore, the additional requirements associated with tourism must be met fully with desalinated water, which results in an increased cost of water management for the region. This paper also points at water losses in distribution networks and tourism seasonality as two phenomena that aggravate this issue

Actualización del Documento Sevilla de Consenso sobre Alternativas a la Transfusión de Sangre Alogénica

La escasez de sangre, la imposibilidad de lograr un riesgo cero para este producto biológico, la falta de evidencia de que la transfusión de sangre alogénica (TSA) pueda incrementar el consumo o disminuir la deuda tisular de oxígeno en pacientes seleccionados y, sobre todo, la existencia de una asociación entre la administración de TSA y el incremento de la morbimortalidad, han favorecido la aparición de alternativas a la misma (ATSA). Dependiendo de la especialidad, los protocolos de cada hospital, la disponibilidad de ATSA y el criterio personal, estas se usan de forma variable. La importancia de un uso adecuado tanto de la TSA como de las ATSA propició que por primera vez en 2.006 cinco sociedades españolas, de Anestesiología y Reanimación (SEDAR), Hematología y Hemoterapia (SEHH), Medicina Intensiva y Unidades Coronarias (SEMICYUC), Trombosis y Hemostasia (SETH) y Transfusiones Sanguíneas (SETS) aunaran esfuerzos para desarrollar un documento con la mejor evidencia científica disponible que permitiese disminuir la variabilidad en el empleo de las ATSA. Las recomendaciones quedaron plasmadas en el Documento Sevilla (DS) sobre alternativas a la transfusión de Sangre Alogénica. Manteniendo el mismo espíritu que en el anterior documento en 2.013 un panel de expertos de las 5 sociedades, con la nueva incorporación de la sociedad española de Farmacia Hospitalaria (SEFH), han llevado a cabo una revisión sistemática de la literatura médica y han elaborado la Actualización del Documento Sevilla de Consenso sobre Alternativas a la Transfusión de Sangre Alogénica. En el presente trabajo sólo se contempla las ATSA dirigidas a disminuir la transfusión de concentrado de hematíes y se definen las ATSA como toda medida farmacológica y no farmacológica encaminada a disminuir la transfusión de concentrado de hematíes, preservando siempre la seguridad del paciente. La cuestión principal que se plantea en cada ítem se formula, en forma positiva o negativa, como: "La ATSA en cuestión reduce/no reduce la tasa transfusional"

Aplicando UML y DSL en el enfoque MDA

El enfoque MDA (Model Driven Architecture) está basado en dos elementos: los modelos y las transformaciones, mediante los cuales se dirige el proceso de desarrollo. Cada transformación arrojará un resultado más detallado hasta obtener el código necesario para implementar la solución en una plataforma específica. En este paper se plantea la utilización de dos lenguajes de modelado aplicados al enfoque de MDA. Un lenguaje de propósito general como lo es UML (Unified Modeling Language) aplicado en un nivel alto de abstracción y DSL (Domain Specific Lenguage) aplicado a un nivel más bajo, cercano a la implementación de la solución final en una determinada plataforma.Eje: ingeniería de softwar