Resistance to melon vine decline derived from Cucumis melo spp. agrestis: genetic analysis of root structure and root response.

Melon vine decline is a major soilborne disease that causes severe economic losses around the world

Slender double-tube ultra-high strength concrete-filled tubular columns under ambient temperature and fire

This paper presents the results of an experimental campaign where both the room temperature and the fire resistance of six double-tube concrete filled steel tubular slender columns with different combinations of concrete strength are studied. Firstly, the ultimate axial load of the specimens at room temperatura was experimentally obtained and afterwards the fire resistance of such columns subjected to a 20% of their load bearing capacity was measured. Given the reduced number of experimental results found in the literature on slender concrete filled tubular columns with double steel tubular cross-sections, the main objective of this paper is to compare the behaviour of such innovative cross-sections under ambient and high temperatures. The influence of filling the inner ring with concrete on the fire performance of these columns is studied in this paper, as well as the variation of thicknesses of the outer and inner steel tubes. Despite the fact that the tested columns are not covered by the scope of Eurocode 4, the current simple calculation models were applied in this paper in order to assess the validity of the standard to this typology of columns, unsafe results being found.The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity through the project BIA2012-33144 and to the European Community for the FEDER funds.Romero, ML.; Espinós Capilla, A.; Portoles Flaj, JM.; Hospitaler Pérez, A.; Ibáñez Usach, C. (2015). Slender double-tube ultra-high strength concrete-filled tubular columns under ambient temperature and fire. Engineering Structures. 99:536-545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2015.05.026S5365459

Agricultura de precisión con drones para control de enfermedades en la planta de arroz

This text deals with the detection of diseases in the rice plant, implementing precision agriculture with drones.  They use a color sensor (camera)  that will be able to identify the spectrum of colors in the crops, which means, recognize the area that is specifically affected within it, then the farmer can apply the necessary chemicals limited to this area, In this way, the current method of treating diseases in which pesticides are applied to the whole crop is eliminated, in effect they will reduced: costs in buying chemical products, soil contamination by not using an adequate dose. Also, improving the problem of eutrophication, currently that it is presented in Pedregal and improve the quality of the products for our food.Este texto trata sobre la detección de enfermedades en la planta de arroz, implementando agricultura de precisión con drones. Los cuales emplean un sensor de color (cámara) que será capaz de identificar el espectro de colores en los cultivos, es decir, reconocer  el área específicamente afectada dentro del mismo, acto seguido, el agricultor podrá aplicar los químicos necesarios limitándose a esta zona, dicho de otra manera, se elimina el método actual de trata de enfermedades en el cual se aplican los pesticidas al cultivo entero, en efecto se reducirán: costos en compra de productos químicos, contaminación de suelos al no utilizar una dosis adecuada. Además, mejora el problema de eutrofización, a saber, que, actualmente presentamos uno en el área de pedregal y mejora la calidad de los productos para nuestra alimentació

Numerical study on the flexural behaviour of slim-floor beams with hollow core slabs at elevated temperature

[EN] Slim-floor beams are a novel typology of steel beams where the steel profile is fully embedded within the concrete floor depth. While the use of this system is increasing fast in the construction practice, the available investigations on its fire performance are still scarce. This paper focuses on analysing the fire behaviour of slim floor beams combined with hollow core slabs as flooring system. Two configurations are studied, namely Integrated Floor Beam (IFB) and Shallow Floor Beam (SFB). A finite element model is developed and validated by comparison with experimental results available in the literature as well as with thermal tests carried out by the authors. Subsequently, parametric studies are conducted with the aim of providing practical design recommendations. The influence of the composite beam configuration, concrete type, longitudinal reinforcement and steel plate thickness is studied. The conclusions drawn in this paper suggest that the SFB configuration may provide a significant enhancement in terms of fire resistance compared to IFB, provided that the appropriate combination of the parameters studied is used.The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the Spanish "Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad" for the help provided through the Project BIA2015-67192-R and to the European Union through the FEDER funds.Albero Gabarda, V.; Espinós Capilla, A.; Serra Mercé, E.; Romero, ML.; Hospitaler Pérez, A. (2019). Numerical study on the flexural behaviour of slim-floor beams with hollow core slabs at elevated temperature. Engineering Structures. 180:561-573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2018.11.061S56157318

Undulator design for Laser Plasma Based Free electron laser

The fourth generation of synchrotron radiation sources, commonly referred to as the Free Electron Laser (FEL), provides an intense source of brilliant X-ray beams enabling the investigation of matter at the atomic scale with unprecedented time resolution. These sources require the use of conventional linear accelerators providing high electron beam performance. The achievement of chirped pulse amplification allowing lasers to be operated at the Terawatt range, opened the way for the Laser Plasma Acceleration (LPA) technique where high energy electron bunches with high current can be produced within a very short centimeter-scale distance. Such an advanced acceleration concept is of great interest to be qualified by an FEL application for compact X-ray light sources. We explore in this paper what the LPA specificities imply on the design of the undulator, part of the gain medium. First, the LPA concept and state-of-art are presented showing the different operation regimes and what electron beam parameters are likely to be achieved. The LPA scaling laws are discussed afterwards to better understand what laser or plasma parameters have to be adjusted in order to improve electron beam quality. The FEL is secondly discussed starting with the spontaneous emission, followed by the different FEL configurations, the electron beam transport to the undulator and finally the scaling laws and correction terms in the high gain case. Then, the different types of compact undulators that can be implemented for an LPA based FEL application are analyzed. Finally, examples of relevant experiments are reported by describing the transport beamline, presenting the spontaneous emission characteristics achieved so far and the future prospects

Impacto de los insectos en la seguridad alimentaria en Panamá

La seguridad alimentaria de un país representa la piedra angular de la nutrición, así como del desarrollo económico y social. Son diversos los factores que pueden impactar la seguridad alimentaria, entre los cuales destacan los insectos. El presente trabajo es una revisión sobre el impacto de los insectos en la seguridad alimentaria en Panamá. El estudio se desarrolló a través de la búsqueda de información relevante publicada asociada a la temática, considerando tres aspectos fundamentales: los insectos plaga, los insectos benéficos (enemigos naturales, polinizadores) y los insectos como alimento para humanos y animales, desde una perspectiva general. Sobre esto último, los insectos representan una de las alternativas de producción de proteínas de mayor importancia para el futuro tanto en Panamá como a nivel mundial, considerando las deficiencias nutricionales y de seguridad alimentaria existente

Efficacy and safety of trabectedin in metastatic uterine leiomyosarcoma: A retrospective multicenter study of the Spanish ovarian cancer research group (GEICO)

Objective: We assessed trabectedin in patients with advanced uterine leiomyosarcoma (uLMS) in real-life clinical practice given according to the marketing authorization. Methods: Thirty-six women from 11 tertiary hospitals across Spain who received trabectedin after anthracyclinecontaining regimen/s were retrospectively analyzed. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). Results: Median PFS and overall survival (OS) since starting trabectedin treatment were 5.4 (95%CI: 3.5–7.3) and 18.5 months (95%CI: 11.5–25.6), respectively. Median OS was significantly higher (P = 0.028) in patients receiving trabectedin in ≤ 2nd line (25.3 months) than in ≥ 3rd (15.1 months) and with ECOG performance status ≤ 1 at trabectedin start (19.8 months) than ECOG 2–3 (6.0 months, P = 0.013). When calculating OS since diagnosis, patients had longer OS with localized disease at diagnosis (87.4 months) vs. locally advanced (30.0 months) or metastatic (44.0 months, P = 0.041); and patients who received adjuvant therapy (87.4 months) compared with those who did not (30.0 months, P = 0.003), especially when receiving radiochemotherapy (106.7 months, P = 0.027). One patient (2.8%) had a complete response (CR) and nine patients (25.0%) achieved a partial response (PR) for an objective response rate of 27.8% with median response duration of 11 months (range: 4–93). Eighteen patients (50.0%) had disease stabilization for a disease control rate (DCR) of 77.8%. More patients receiving trabectedin in 1st-line of advanced disease achieved CR (16.7%) and PR (50.0%) than those in ≥ 2nd line/s (0.0% and 20.0%), whereas the DCR was similar across treatment lines. Reversible neutropenia was the most common grade 3/4 laboratory abnormality (19.4%). Conclusions: Trabectedin confers clinical benefit in patients with recurrent/metastatic uLMS, given after failure to an anthracycline-based regimen being comparable to those reported in clinical trials and with a manageable safety profile

Tratamiento hormonal del cáncer de mama

Hormonal therapy has been the first systemic treatment against breast cancer. Up to now Tamoxifen and ovarian supression/ablation were the best optionts we had to treat early breast cancer as advancer disease. The advent of aromatase inhibitors, new SERMS and antistrogen Fulvestrant have supoused a great advance in the treatment of this disease and at the same time have complicated the election of the optimal drug for each patient. This article tries to review the aviable treatment options insiting on its indications

Study of USH1 Splicing Variants through Minigenes and Transcript Analysis from Nasal Epithelial Cells

Usher syndrome type I (USH1) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by congenital profound deafness, vestibular areflexia and prepubertal retinitis pigmentosa. The first purpose of this study was to determine the pathologic nature of eighteen USH1 putative splicing variants found in our series and their effect in the splicing process by minigene assays. These variants were selected according to bioinformatic analysis. The second aim was to analyze the USH1 transcripts, obtained from nasal epithelial cells samples of our patients, in order to corroborate the observed effect of mutations by minigenes in patient’s tissues. The last objective was to evaluate the nasal ciliary beat frequency in patients with USH1 and compare it with control subjects. In silico analysis were performed using four bioinformatic programs: NNSplice, Human Splicing Finder, NetGene2 and Spliceview. Afterward, minigenes based on the pSPL3 vector were used to investigate the implication of selected changes in the mRNA processing. To observe the effect of mutations in the patient’s tissues, RNA was extracted from nasal epithelial cells and RT-PCR analyses were performed. Four MYO7A (c.470G>A, c.1342_1343delAG, c.5856G>A and c.3652G>A), three CDH23 (c.2289+1G>A, c.6049G>A and c.8722+1delG) and one PCDH15 (c.3717+2dupTT) variants were observed to affect the splicing process by minigene assays and/or transcripts analysis obtained from nasal cells. Based on our results, minigenes are a good approach to determine the implication of identified variants in the mRNA processing, and the analysis of RNA obtained from nasal epithelial cells is an alternative method to discriminate neutral Usher variants from those with a pathogenic effect on the splicing process. In addition, we could observe that the nasal ciliated epithelium of USH1 patients shows a lower ciliary beat frequency than control subjects

A crowdsourcing database for the copy-number variation of the spanish population

Background: Despite being a very common type of genetic variation, the distribution of copy-number variations (CNVs) in the population is still poorly understood. The knowledge of the genetic variability, especially at the level of the local population, is a critical factor for distinguishing pathogenic from non-pathogenic variation in the discovery of new disease variants. Results: Here, we present the SPAnish Copy Number Alterations Collaborative Server (SPACNACS), which currently contains copy number variation profiles obtained from more than 400 genomes and exomes of unrelated Spanish individuals. By means of a collaborative crowdsourcing effort whole genome and whole exome sequencing data, produced by local genomic projects and for other purposes, is continuously collected. Once checked both, the Spanish ancestry and the lack of kinship with other individuals in the SPACNACS, the CNVs are inferred for these sequences and they are used to populate the database. A web interface allows querying the database with different filters that include ICD10 upper categories. This allows discarding samples from the disease under study and obtaining pseudo-control CNV profiles from the local population. We also show here additional studies on the local impact of CNVs in some phenotypes and on pharmacogenomic variants. SPACNACS can be accessed at: http://csvs.clinbioinfosspa.es/spacnacs/. Conclusion: SPACNACS facilitates disease gene discovery by providing detailed information of the local variability of the population and exemplifies how to reuse genomic data produced for other purposes to build a local reference database.This work is supported by Grants PID2020-117979RB-I00 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; by the Institute of Health Carlos III (project IMPaCT-Data, exp. IMP/00019, IMP/00009 and PI20/01305), co-funded by the European Union, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF, “A way to make Europe”)